My girlfriend is a Dragon
by Kirika Nai
Summary: Weiss is a princess, and as a princess, must act accordingly. To HELL with that! She makes a mad dash for freedom, having studied swordsmanship, confident she can best whatever comes her way. Unless that thing, is a dragon? Stuck with no way out, Weiss comes face to face with one such beast. But this certain dragon acts almost like a.. Puppy?/ (will have Whiterose & some Bumblebee)
1. Dragon? More like Giant Lizard puppy

Weiss Schnee was going to die. Not the best sentence to start off a story with, but here we are. Weiss Schnee was going to die, or at least she thought she was. Anyone with a leg trapped under a log, being stared down by a silver eyed red dragon would think so, right?

* * *

"I'll be alright, I promise.." Weiss spoke softly to her butler, the one who had basically raised her in her parents steed.

"My lady, please know, that if you EVER return, I will be here. You'll always have this old man on your side." Her butler, Klein said.

Weiss was touched by his kind words. "Thank you Klein.." She carefully slid down the rope on the side of the tower that was her bedroom, landing without a sound. The rope was pulled back up, and it was like she had never left. Weiss looked at the sky, the clouds covering any stars she could have used to navigate. But that in itself, was a blessing. If there was no moon out, then there would be even less of a chance that anyone would see a small shadow slip out of the kingdom..

"I cant BELIEVE I'm finally doing this." Weiss huffed, holding her pack close and her sword closer. Today was her 18th birthday. In other words, today was the day that her father could finally legally marry her off to some snobbish rich prince. And Weiss was having non of that. It felt good, running like this. Under the cover of the night, Weiss was able to slip out of the castle with ease, now dashing through the village to get past the main wall. She spied a palm sized rock as she ran, and instinctively picked it up. She cursed herself for doing such a thing, this rock would only add more weight!

At the city's edge, by the massive castle walls, she stopped. It was well past midnight, around 2 or 3 she assumed. And yet, the gates were being opened? Some late night merchant was being let through. Weiss stared at the rock in her hand. This was _perfect_. She tossed the rock at the wall towards the right, and dashed by the guards and merchants on their left. No one saw her, and no one noticed. She was giddy with excitement. She'd just avoided the hardest part of her plan, making it over the wall!

Now a choice faced her, run through the plains, or the forest on the opposite side? Despite being capable of running through the plains now, because of the cloudy night, Weiss stuck with her original plan. To the forest she went.

The forest was quiet. Almost to quiet? Weiss was sure that there would be some form of animal skittering about at night in the forest, but, all was still. It was quite, unsettling... Even in the castle, it had never been to quiet. Weiss could hear the guards patrol and the maids and butlers cleaning. But this forest was so forgin. Maybe, it was supposed to be like this? No, that couldn't be right, Weiss knew very well that half the animals around this stupid kingdom were nocturnal! So, what would cause them to all be so quiet? Surly, it couldn't be her presence? Weiss wasn't sure.

And so she continued on, trekking through the dark woods, determined to reach her goal. What that goal was, in fact, wasn't much to go on. Reach the next town. Run as far as possible. Never look back. Weiss felt a twinge of sadness in her heart at the thought if never seeing her sister Winter again.. And her dear friend, Clyde. But truthfully, those two people were the only ones she was going to miss. She pushed any thought of the rest of her family from our of her mind.

The animals had started up again. Sounds of crickets chirping, late night birds flitting about, and little rodents scurrying underfoot blessed Weiss's ears with peace. Anything was better then silence. Anything at all. And then, all at once, they stopped again. Silence. Weiss was certain it wasn't her fault this time, no, whatever had scared the forest's residents was something else. Something large enough to silence them, but quiet enough to go unnoticed by Weiss herself. Surely, it couldn't be a.. No! No that was ridiculous! Weiss laughed nervously to herself. Just the thought of a _dragon_ being in such a place was ludicrous! No, such a being would not be in this forest.

Yet all the same, Weiss found herself drawing her sword and keeping it ready to strike as she walked.

Weiss heard a snort. A loud snort, from a bear? Wolf? Some large creature surely? Weiss saw two gleaming yellow eyes watching her from the bushes. A jet black wolf stepped out, advancing towards her. She almost breathed a sigh of relief. She really had been expecting a dragon, hadn't she? But no, it was just a shadow wolf Weiss could take this. Maybe get a cool coat out of it too, if she could skin it right. Hah. If shadow wolf fur could even be usable, that is.

Before she could even make a strike in is general direction, a dark red mass darted out of the sky and pounced onto the wolf. Only then did Weiss notice the dark liquid trail the wolf had been leaving behind as it approached her.

Blood.

The clouds parted, letting Weiss she just what had attacked the wolf in her steed. Gleaming silver eyes stared her down, as the moonlight washed over the figure of a huge, red dragon. It looked as if it were melting, the blood from the shadow wolf dripping off its snout merging perfectly with its scales in the dark. All Weiss could think to do, was run. Run. Run fast, never look back. Her blood was boiling with adrenalin, her heart beating so hard she was sure it could be heard for miles around. The sound of the bones in the wolf breaking as the dragon ripped it in half and ate a chunk of it playing on an infinite loop in her ears chilled Weiss to the bone. That could be her, in a few moments.

In her panicked state, she was less then coordinated. Her steps were erratic, having no desire to go anywhere but _farther_ from the dragon. Weiss was a good sword fighter. She could take down a wolf, maybe bear. But not a dragon. Not a dragon. The last thing she remembered was running, and feeling a sharp pain in her foot. As she tumbled over the edge of a cliff, she looked at the sky, seeing the dragon silently flying above her, watching. As if her desperate attempt to get away meant nothing at all.

* * *

Weiss's head hurt. The left side, especially. She opened her eyes, and gathered her bearings. ...It was daylight. The sun wasn't fully up yet. Or, was it hadn't fully set? Weiss couldn't tell if it late morning or afternoon. She tried to move her feet, and discovered her foot was caught under a log. It wasn't broken, she could move it freely. It was just, stuck. Would the only way out be to cut off her foot? Weiss couldn't survive out here like that! As she muddled over her foot related troubles, something moved in the corner of her eye. She turned quickly, starring again into the silver eyes of the blood red dragon.

She couldn't move. Not only was her leg still trapped, but she'd frozen up mentally to. A dragon. A real, living dragon, right in front of her. When was the last time she'd heard of a story where the hero and the dragon both survived at the end? Never. There was no such story. And with her rapier sword flung about 12 feet away behind the dragon, Weiss was very, very afraid.

The dragon tilted its head. It didn't seem hungry at the moment, but that could change in an instant. Dragons were vicious, horrid creatures that attacked villages, and stole livestock just for fun. At any moment now it would pounce. The dragon scooted closer to Weiss, poking her with its nose. Weiss just about fainted. "B.. Back off..!" Weiss managed to squeal out what she assumed would be her last words. The dragon raise its head, and scooted back a foot or so.

...what?

Weiss shook her head. No, no way. Dragons were intelligent, but not smart enough to understand human language. It, was just playing with her. Playing with her, before it ate her...wait, if it were playing..

Weiss watched the dragon. It nibbled its front leg, glancing at Weiss from time to time, snuffling at her as if to ask her to stand up and play. Play! This, must've been a young dragon! If it were, then, maybe there was a chance of getting out of this alive!

...yeah, and fish can fly. Weiss was prepared for death now. She just had to wait here until the dragon got hungry. It wouldn't be long now, that wolf it'd eaten last night wouldn't sate it for long. "Well go on." She said. The dragon blinked. "Eat me!" The dragon snorted softly, and rolled onto its back. It seemed entranced by Weiss. It approached her cautiously, reaching out its head. Weiss closed her eyes tightly, preparing for her head to be bitten off. But, the dragon only grabbed her hood. It pulled at it, stealing her cloak. "Wh– hey! Give that back!" She yelled. The dragon jumped at the rise in volume. It set the cloak down, a few feet away from her. Juuuuust out of reach.

"I can't reach it there." Weiss huffed. The dragon tilted its head again. Weiss picked up a branch next to her, and threw it at the dragon, hoping to anger it enough to give her a swift death instead of continually taunting her. It picked up the stick in its mouth, and dropped it next to her. ...This was, odd. Weren't dragons supposed to be like,,, evil incarnate? Or something? This was just a giant lizard puppy!

Weiss had been raised to fear dragons, like any child in the kingdom. But seeing this, playfully curious thing, munching on her cloak, made almost all her fears wash away. How could something like that be dangerous? Ho– ah. There was, last night. It took out that wolf in one go.

"I might as well give a name to the thing that's gonna eat me.." Weiss mused. She had, completely given up. Might as well name it. "How about Red." She said, boredly. The dragon stomped its foot loudly, startling Weiss. "...Not, red? Uh, how about maroon?" The dragon glared. "Scarlet? Vermilion? Ruby? Amber–"

The dragon made a happy screeching sound. Weiss repeated the name she thought it liked. "Amber? Thats your na–" The dragon made a very _angry_ screeching sound. "Oh! Ok! Not amber! ...Ruby?"

Happy dragon noises ensued. Weiss put a hand to her face. "I'm being held captive by a log, and a dragon named Ruby. How _wonderful_." Weiss lamented her woes. Ruby, the dragon, tuned and left. Weiss was left with her mouth open in shock. "That's it?! You Won't even eat me?! I have to wait here and starve to death, or let something else come and find me?! Well good riddance! Who needs you!" Weiss was having a hard time admitting that she was starting to miss the dragons company. Much like one would miss a large dog you'd seen on the road after you return home. Screw it.

It was nightfall now. Weiss had been stuck there all day, and was incredibly thirsty. "I'll die of dehydration before starvation, it seems.." Just as Weiss was starting to fall asleep, a loud thump woke her. Ruby had returned. With, a mouth full of slobbery fruits. She dumped them in front of Weiss, and watched her expectantly. Weiss gingerly picked up one of the dragon spit covered fruits. "...oh! How, uh, wonderfull..!" Weiss could feel herself gagging just looking at the large amount of dragon spit.

She held her breath and took a bite. The actual fruit was fine. Pretty juicy, something Weiss desperately needed. But still.. The slimy goopy texture on the outside was just so... uhg.. "Oh God how long was this in your _MOUTH_?" Weiss choked a little. She ate the fruit nonetheless. It was her only source of food after all. It was night. And growing colder. Weiss had choked down the fruits, and shivered slightly at a small gust of wind. She looked at Ruby. "Can I have my cloak back..? Its cold."

Ruby came right up to her, laying down by Weiss's side. She curled around her, and rested her head on her lap. Weiss, who was still having a hard time believing that a dragon her just brought her fruit to eat, was completely mentally beaten by the fact that said dragon was now acting as a blanket for her. Ruby fell asleep instantly. Weiss thought for a moment. Could she kill a dragon with her bare hands? No... and best not to anger it either, since it obviously wanted her alive. I mean, it gave her fruit for gods sake! ...Ruby was surprisingly warm. And soon enough, Weiss dozed off as well.

* * *

Morning now. It was cold. Ah, so Ruby had left during the night? To be expected. Weiss supposed she was grateful that the dragon had just, left, instead of eating her. Now she could die in peace, freezing and starving, so very alone. Her lap was still warm...

Wait.

Warm? Weiss opened her eyes, and in her lap she saw a girl. A naked girl was resting her head in her lap. Said girl also had splotches of blood smeared about her. Weiss noticed that Ruby had dragged her cloak within reaching distance, so she immediately used it to cover the girl so she wouldn't catch a cold. "Hey! wh, who are you? Are you ok! Wake up!" Weiss franticly pushed the girl, getting a sleepy grumble in response.

The girl sat up, cloak draped lazily across her shoulders. Her hair was awful, scraggly and bloodstained, just like the rest of her. The girl opened her eyes, and stared at Weiss. The same unique silver gleam from the dragons eyes, shone in that girls gaze. She opened her mouth and spoke softly. "Hello friennn..d?" Her eyes widened, and she looked at her hands. "Oh! I did it! I did it!" She stood up, and immediately fell over. "Hah! I knew I could do it!" She kicked her limbs wildly, smiling like there was no wrong in the world.

"What? Did what? Where did you come from? Are you hurt!?" Weiss was having trouble adjusting to this situation. Where the hell had this girl come from?

The girl sat up and looked at Weiss. She broke out into a toothy grin. "Friend!" She cheered.

"Friend?" It was all Weiss could do to just repeat words back at this girl now.

"Friend! You didn't run! Friend! I brought you foods! Friend!" the girl pointed to the discarded fruit pits. But, wasn't it the dragon who had brought Weiss those..?

"..Ruby?" Weiss asked cautiously.

"Yes! My name! Ruby!" Ruby the girl chirped.

Ah. This was a dream. It had to be. Dragons couldn't turn into humans.. Right? Magic existed but, that was going a little too far don't you think? This was a dream. This was alllll a dream. Weiss continued to futilely pray that none of this was real, as Ruby leaned in close and hugged her, getting smudges of blood all over Weiss.

"...what did I do to deserve this." Weiss whispered woefully.

"Friend!" Ruby smiled happily.

* * *

 **Authors note: Quite a few people have been asking, so I'll just say it here, back at the beginning; there won't be any sex scenes in this story. My main purpose for writing it is kinda cause like I wanted to explore in literature how I think a romance would work? Like after the confession? Something like that. The lewdest thing y'all are gonna get from this is a kiss, maybe some hand holding. I'm making this the fluffiest heckin thing you've ever seen!**


	2. Are you a dragon or a toddler?

Weiss was still stuck. And Ruby stank of blood. Weiss gaged a little, but tried not to let it show. Distract yourself, anything just say literally anything "Since when.. Can dragons transform into people?" She asked.

Ruby thought for a moment. "Since, alwayz? Well, you, you.. Yoou Can't until you're ad least 16. And, and I finally did it! I went human!"

"...I can see that." Weiss said. This Ruby girl was, quit the predicament. She seemed cheery enough, so Weiss was sure she could get her to remove the log trapping her. But she doubted she could loose her. Considering how fast Ruby kept up with her the night before, there was no way she could shake her. Weiss wasn't sure how to feel. Her entire view of dragons was being flipped upsidown. Were, all dragons like this? "Why didn't you eat me?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Eat you? Why on earthf would I dew that? I already ate that, that, that wolf! And, I don't think I'd like to eat a human anywayz! Everyone knows, if you attack a hurman, more more are sure to follow and and they'll burn down the whole Forrest to get you! Humans are scary.. But, you're nice friend! Friend!" Ruby nodded to herself.

"My name is Weiss." Weiss rubbed the back of her head. This was starting to feel less like talking to a dragon, and more like talking to a friendly wild homeless girl. Huh.

"Weiss! How pretty!" Ruby's eyes sparkled.

"Do you think you could, uh, get this log off me? Its sort of trapping me." Weiss pointed to the log.

Ruby jumped up, but fell again. She didn't seem used to the body she was in now. But, she was still able to crawl to the log, and move it with her superhuman strength. Weiss was free. She slowly moved to the side, and picked up her sword. She stared at it, Then looked back to Ruby. This girl, was a dragon. And it would be so easy to just, cut off her head, right here...

Ruby was poking at a beetle in the dirt now, remarking about how amazing it was that it looked so much bigger then when she was in dragon form. She took off the cloak, and stretched.

Weiss covered her face with her free hand to hide a small blush. "Ok, ok stop. Put that back on." She commanded.

"Ehhh? But it feels weird..." Ruby pouted, folding her arms over her chest. Weiss looked her over. Oh lord, she was filthy. Was there a river near bye? There had to be. All thoughts of murder were pushed aside, and Weiss made it her sole mission to get Ruby cleaned up.

"Ruby, come here." Weiss held out a hand, and Ruby took it enthusiastically. Weiss flung the cloak back on Ruby, and basically dragged her to a near bye river.

"Eekk!" Ruby screeched when she touched the water. "It _COLD_!"

"Well YEAH its a river, now hold still you little–" Weiss struggled to try and push Ruby in the water, and while she eventually succeeded, that success came with her falling into the river right next to Ruby. Ruby giggled.

Weiss now had to disrobe as well, hanging her clothes to dry on a near bye branch. It was in the sun, so it wouldn't take long. Weiss rubbed Ruby down, getting all the blood and dirt off her body. She just about wanted to kill Ruby when she jumped out of the river and rolled in the dirt, claiming that her back itched. Another wash ensued.

As she washed Ruby, Weiss also washed herself. She was able to see her reflection in the waters surface a little, and noticed something odd about her face. She leaned closer, inspecting her left eye. "Oh..!" She had a sharp cut across her eye. It looked like the wound had closed up, and she didn't notice any hindrance in her left eyes vision, but.. that looked like it would leave a scar. It must have been from when she fell off the cliff? She remembered the left side of her head hurting earlier... That must be it! So, the fact that she now had a very noticeable scared was kinda... Rubys fault. Weiss splashed Ruby in the face with water, pretending it was an accident as the girl yelped in surprise.

Both girls were now clean. Weiss felt extreme gratitude to her father's crappy security around her room back at the castle, as the lack of proper guarding let her escape and play in the woods many times as a child. aAndnd many of those times to avoid suspicion, she'd washed in a river before returning home. Weiss redressed in her now clean clothes (she'd cleaned them when Ruby pulled her into the river. Why not? They were already wet) and felt wonderful. She dried Ruby off, and managed to shove her into a little brown dress shed packed as extra clothes. Ruby tolerated it.

"Why do humanz wear clothez?" Ruby asked, flexing her hands, curious as to how her fingers worked.

"You felt the water, it was really cold right? Humans don't have very strong skin. The sun will burn us if we don't have clothes." Weiss started gathering her things, prepared to set off to the next town again.

"Oh! Humans are really weak..!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hmpf." Weiss rolled her eyes and started walking away. She heard a thump behind her, and turned to see Ruby had tripped over her own two feet again.

"Waaait! Weiss! I can't walk fast!" Ruby tried standing again and fell the same way.

Weiss was fully prepared to abandon Ruby. She didn't need her. Ruby would only attract unnecessary attention. It wasn't like she owed her or anything, in fact if she hadn't even met Ruby she'd've had a better time in the Forrest and already be in the next town! Despite all those perfectly reasonable reasons to leave her, taking one look at Ruby's sad, pitiful face was all it took to melt Weiss's heart. She cursed her softness and stomped her foot, turning back to help Ruby stand.

If Ruby had a tail, it would definitely have been wagging right now. "You can't walk, right?" Weiss grumbled, holding Ruby's hands to help her up. She put one of Ruby's arms over her shoulder, and walked slowly, letting the girl get used to using her human legs.

"I've never, never been human before. And I'm, not sure how to change back..?" Ruby looked at the floor guiltily, as if she KNEW she was being a burden, about as useful as a newborn fawn in the desert.

"Can't change back? Is this permanent?" Weiss frowned. Was she going to be stuck taking care of this girl the rest of her life? Her conscience would eat her ALIVE if she left Ruby alone in the woods in this pitiful state.

"No, my sister can, can change back whenever she wants. We got separated, so I can't ask her how she does it right now." Ruby's cheery demeanor seemed to darken at the mention of her lost sister.

Weiss was immediately reminded of Winter. "Oh. That's to bad.. I know how you feel, I can't see my sister anymore either." Weiss let her thoughts dribble out into her voice.

Ruby clasped Weiss's hands and stared into her eyes. "I'll help you find her..! Stay strong!" Ruby was tearing up a bit. Weiss almost laughed at how overly dramatic she was being.

Ruby was getting better at walking. Surprisingly quickly too, within a few hours, she was walking on her own just fine. "Is this normal?" Weiss asked, inquiring about Ruby's rather strange abilities to learn so fast.

"Ah.. yes? Probably. With the walking at least, I mean, that's a normal human function. Just like talking. I feel like I've gotten a bit of a better grip on that as well!" Ruby pumped a fist into the air.

That, made sense somehow. If dragons were shape shifting into humans left and right, they'd have to pick up on things quickly to fit in. Ruby did seem a lot more like a normal girl now. She wasn't slurring her speech or repeating the same words over and over again, she wasn't fussing about how weird clothes felt, she could walk on her own perfectly now. If Weiss hadn't seen it herself, she wouldn't believe it if someone told her that Ruby had been a dragon just the day before.

"Was my talking weird earlier? I feel like it was.." Ruby put a hand to her chin, deep in thought.

Weiss couldn't keep from thinking what she really felt cause, yeah it was really annoying. "Not.. To bad, I would say. It is better now." Weiss looked Ruby over. She noticed her hair still had red in it. Oh no, did she not wash out all the blood? Weiss leaned in close, and felt a lock of Ruby's hair. Huh. No blood, it was just naturally red near the ends. Odd. Ruby's cheeks seemed flushed, Why? Weiss backed off. "Sorry, I thought you still had blood in your hair. You don't." Weiss assured her.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, its red near the bottom! I like how it fades to red! Though, your snow white hair is more pretty I think, can I touch it?" Ruby reached a cautious hand towards Weiss's head. Weiss nodded. It was the least she could do, after just leaning in and grabbing Ruby's hair a moment ago. Ruby smelled the lock of Weiss's have she was holding. "I like your smell~" she hummed softly. Weiss wasn't sure how to feel about that statement. But, considered it a complement, since Ruby probably didn't even know HOW to insult people at this point. "Oh, thanks for helping me wash earlier! Now that I think about it, I was really bloody wasn't I? I'd just fought that wolf, and was following you so I hadn't gone into a lake or river yet. Blood doesn't really show up on my scales, but its sure noticeable on human skin!"

Ruby was pretty talkative, Weiss was noticing. How did dragons communicate? Was this, the first time Ruby had had a conversation? It would explain why she seemed so exited.

The edge of the Forrest came into view and open plain stretched for about a half mile, before a village was visible. "Here we are.." Weiss mumbled to herself. She reached into her pack and took out a map, looking it over. that's strange? The village on the map should have been much farther from the Forrest, unless... "Ruby? You didn't happen to move me while I was sleeping, did you?" Weiss asked. Ruby froze, trying to act innocent.

"Uhh... Who's Ruby?" Ruby was very bad at lying it seemed.

"Because, according to this map, we are, lets see.. 15 miles off course!" Weiss was surprised at her own words. 15? How was that possible? When could that have even happened? Weiss glared at Ruby, waiting for a response.

"Well, you see, when you fell off that cliff..? I caught you, but, there were wolves, so I, flew to an area with no wolves. Heh." Ruby looked like a puppy that had been caught in the act of chewing up its owners favorite shoes. "Sorry about your eye.. I tried to be careful, but, _claws_."

This was a, surprising development. So, Ruby had cut her eye? Hah, it really was her fault then. And, Weiss had just assumed she'd fallen off the cliff and survived the landing. But, it was odd how she had virtually no bruises from such a fall. If Ruby had caught her, and gently set her down.. Hey! Then did Ruby trap her under that log on purpose? "Did you trap me under that log on purpose?" Weiss asked before she could stop herself.

"Log? No. That just fell on its own after I set you down. You were really trapped? I thought you just, didn't want to move it yourself." Ruby's eyes widened. "So, you only stayed there because you were trapped?"

"Why else would I?" Weiss rubbed her forehead to sooth her brain. She was having to many mind shocking revelations lately, she wanted a break.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." Ruby's voice was drenched in melancholy. Weiss couldn't fathom why.

"Alright, well. I guess this is the town I'm stopping in first then." Weiss repacked her map, and stepped out of the Forrest. Ruby didn't follow. Weiss took a couple of steps, and looked back at Ruby. She was standing still, watching Weiss. "Are you coming?" Weiss asked.

Ruby seemed hesitant to follow. "I'm not sure.. I've never seen any other humans besides you. What if I freak out? Or they figure out I'm a dragon? I don't, mmm.." She fidgeted in place, avoiding eye contact with Weiss.

"You can stay there if you want. Just find me after I come back out." Weiss shrugged, then left the sad and confused Ruby in the Forrest. Don't feel bad, she told herself. Its better if she doesn't come. It would just be awkward for her. You didn't do anything wrong, she said it herself, she preferred to stay away from the village. Did she though? Was she maybe just being shy? Did she actually really want to go in? Weiss battled with herself mentally for a few steps, before turning around to offer to take Ruby to the village.

But Ruby was gone. Weiss went back to the Forrest edge, looked around a little, but Ruby was nowhere to be seen. For a second, Weiss wondered if maybe that cute dragon girl had just been a figment of her imagination.. Weiss lifted a hand and felt her left eye. The scar. If she ever had any doubt as to weather what had happened was real, she just had to feel that scar and know everything was fine. Everything was fiiiiiine. Weiss wasn't lonely! Not at all! Ruby was annoying, so annoying! She didn't need her! SHE DIDN'T NEED HER.

Weiss was so busy trying to convince herself that she didn't feel bad about leaving Ruby behind, she didn't notice the scattered footprints beside the Forrest's edge. Footprints, that if she had noticed, she might have been a little more on guard about the possibility of bandits. Weiss didn't know where Ruby was, and she didn't care. She'd basically always been alone anyways. This was no different, no different.

She ignored the twang of loneliness in her heart, telling herself she was just hungry.


	3. It's not like I missed you or anything

No way. There was no way. It had only been like, ten minuets, Weiss couldn't.. She couldn't actually _miss_ Ruby's company, could she? No, not possible. Weiss had entered the village, and was mumbling to herself with her arms crossed. She kept her cloak tight over her head, knowing that her snow white hair would stand out like a beacon in this little town. Weiss could see children playing in the roads, adults trading goods in the market, just, people. People living in the moment. How she wished she could feel that safe.

She went up to a fruit vendor, and asked a question. "Is there a guild in this town?" The vendor looked her over, noticing her sword poking out from the side of her cloak.

"Lassie, in case ye hadn't noticed, the tallest building in this place be the church." He peeled away at some exotic looking fruit. "Ye'd have to go further north of here, up to the next town."

Weiss groaned internally. She'd planned on doing some quest at a guild to gain income, something like slaying wolves. That she could do. The town she'd originally planned to go to had a guild, but since a certain red dragon had flown her _15 miles off course_ she wasn't in said town. Some kid ran by Weiss, bumping her and knocking her pack askew. Her map slipped out, and when she bent down to grab it, something else fell. She retrieved her map, and her.. Fruit?

It was one of those odd fruits Ruby had given her. It was still damp from dragon spit, uhg. The fruit vendor slammed his hand on his cart. "M-missy! How'd ye get your hands on one a' those?" He stared at it expectantly.

"This?" Weiss looked at her fruit. It was, just a fruit. Nothing special about it. "I just–" Was given it by a dragon "–found It. In the woods." Weiss coughed a little.

"Let me buy it. I'll give ya 5, no _10_ silver coins!" The vendor whispered.

10 silver for a fruit? "Oh no, you don't want this, its covered in–" dragon spit "–animal spit." Weiss winced at the fruit. "I wouldn't have eaten them if I'd had literally anything else."

"You ate some? Is there more?" The vendor was leaning over his cart now.

"Well, yes, but I think this one just got into my bag by accident, I uh.. Are you SURE you want it?" Weiss didn't see any reason not to sell it to the guy if he wanted it so badly. And, it would get her some money.

The vendor looked about ready to trade his firstborn child for the fruit. Weiss sold it and went on her way. "Did Ruby accidentally give me some super rare delicacy?" she wondered out loud. It was getting dark now, and since she had money, Weiss went to an inn and got a room for the night. Weiss was in a nice warm bed, under a firm roof. Ruby was sleeping in the woods... No! Don't feel guilty! She left on her own! Yeah, after you left her. Aaaahhhggggggggg

Weiss left the inn at about midnight, telling the inkeeper at the front desk that she would be returning within the hour. She complained in a whisper to herself as she marched towards the Forrest. "'Oh no I'm fine leave me here I'm scared of people' then why don't you act like it you _DOLT_." Weiss returned to the edge of the Forrest. "Ruby?" She called. "Ruby, come out. Come here!" How was Weiss supposed to call a dragon? Whistling? She tried it, but to no avail.

Weiss heard a branch snap, like someone had stepped on it. "Ruby? Is that you? I wanted to–" Weiss certainly did not expect a giant shadow wolf to jump out of the brush at her. _tHiS wAs FiNe!_ She'd trained for this! Weiss whipped out her sword and jumped aside, darting in and out of the wolfs range until she had weakened it enough for a final strike. She plunged her sword into its chest, ending its life. Weiss wiped the sweat off her brow, lowering her hood. The moonlight almost made her hair glow.

She walked back to the inn, pissed that she hadn't found Ruby. She nearly gave the innkeeper a heart attack, slamming the door open and marching back to her room all tattered and covered in blood, after taking a quick bath. She slept until midday the next day. Weiss left her room, and apologized to the innkeeper for scaring her the night before

"May I ask, what you were doing out so late miss?" The innkeeper cautiously asked.

"Looking for a friend. Ran into a shadow wolf." Weiss grumbled.

"In the village?" The innkeeper sounded horrified.

"No, no! I went to the edge of the Forrest, I was yelling for her, so that must have drawn it out."

"You friend was in the Forrest? All night?" The innkeeper looked sorry for Weiss. Yeah, anyone who spends a night in the Forrest would be presumed dead, that's fair. But Ruby was a _Dragon_.

"Don't worry she's fine. She's sure going to get an earfull when I find her though, that's for sure..!" Weiss left the inn, thanking them for their services. Especially the bath, she didn't envy whoever had to clean it after she'd washed off all that wolf blood.

Weiss spent the day mulling about the town. It seemed, less life-like today? No children playing around. No vendors open. No one. Except, Weiss saw a group of men drinking. She thought it best to avoid them, and certainly tried to, but–

"Heyyy there missy!" Some drunk guy walked in front her. "Not from around here, are we? There's a rule we like to abide by, and that is no~ hoods~!" He reached to pull her hood off, but Weiss stopped him.

The guys friends stood up, and walked over. "You giving our boy here some trouble?" One asked, his hand sliding down to his pocket. Weiss saw him pull out a knife. "Why don't you drop cloak, and any bags you're holding?"

Ah. Weiss had read about this. She was being mugged! and these people didn't seem like natives.. Bandits? That would explian the sudden ghost town like vibe she was getting. Well now, she certainly couldn't have that, now could she? Weiss jumped back, and drew her sword. "What was that you were saying?"

The bandits laughed. "Aw look! She's got a skinny sword! There's more metal on my _POCKET_ _KNIFE_ then that thing missy!" The one with the the knife charged her. Weiss danced around him like a fluttering breeze, and cut his belt wit a quick swipe. His pants fell. That was certainly not Weiss's intention, but was funny nonetheless. She covered her mouth to hide a smile. The knife wielder pulled up his pants, and yelled "Ay! Whoever puts this girl in her place gets to sell her shiny sword! And gets to maybe, take her to the back room for a while."

"Whats _THAT_ supposed to mean?" Weiss held in the barrage of insults she wanted to spew at this guy. A few people in black robes came out of the woodwork. Weiss, certainly had her wok cut out for her...

Now, a wolf she could take. A wild beast was easy. Even a person, maybe two people at once Weiss believed she could best. But 7? 7 people at once, all with the intent of disarming her? Thiiiiis was a problem.

Weiss was able to keep her ground the first few minuets, but quickly grew weary from having to turn and twist every 5 seconds just to stay in one piece. She couldn't keep this up for long. Weiss felt someone grab the back of her hood and pull it down, staring directly into her eyes from behind and above. The woman licked her lips, sending a shudder down Weiss's spine. They were starting to get hits in now. A kick to the ribs. A jab at the leg. Weiss was loosing, badly. She didn't even have time to raise her hood again, let alone think of an escape route. Two people managed to grab Weiss's arms at the same time, stopping her movement. She tried to break free, but her strength lied more in agility, not brute force. Her sword was cast aside a few feet away.

The knife wielder from before leaned down and looked her in the face. "Well looks like its just you and me, hm?"

Weiss spit in his face.

He pulled out his knife, fully ready to stab Weiss. She closed her eyes tightly, and–

 **CRAASHHHHHH**

Her eyes shot open, and were greeted with a sea of red. Blood? No, it was.. "Ruby?!" Weiss yelped.

It seemed that Ruby, fully dragon again, had dropped out of the sky and pinned the guy trying to stab Weiss directly under her foot. She snorted angrily.

[[Weiss! Are you ok?]] Oh woa WHAT was that. Telepathy? This dragon had telepathy?

"What on earth are you doing! You dolt!" She yelled at the dragon.

[[Me? You're the one getting killed by a group of humans! I– ow!]] The guy under Ruby's foot stabbed her toe. she grabbed him by the arm in her mouth, and flung him away. Far, FAR away Weiss noted, as he sailed across the sky and out of sight. Yeah he's dead.

"Listen here you, I tried to find you for hours! Where were you?! Didn't I say to wait?!" Weiss yelled.

Ruby tilted her head, [[you were looking for me?]] Her telepathy sounded bashful.

Weiss grinded her teeth. "No duh! I was worried sick! I mean, I wasn't, worried exactly but, tell me next time you're going to fly off!"

[[You care about me! You do like me!]] Ruby chirped joyfully. Her tail swished back and forth happily, breaking the window of a nearby building.

Weiss heard a cough. She turned, to see the 7 black robed people from before all on the ground, cowering in fear and confusion at this strange scene. A snow white headed girl, having a seemingly one sided argument with a blood red dragon. And somehow, it appeared the dragon was winning.

Weiss picked up her fallen sword. "...We need to leave. Now." She said flatly.

[[why? Its my first time in a human village, maybe we can–]]

 _"NOW."_

Ruby sensed the urgency in Weiss's voice, and picked her up gently in her claws. In a split second, Weiss and Ruby were high in the sky, above the Forrest. The town fading in the distance, a distant memory. But Weiss's mind was occupied by the fact that they were so high! They were flying! She yelped in delight at the new sensation.

Ruby landed softly, and let Weiss down. Weiss had to slap herself a few times to get the smile on her face to go away. Ruby morphed into a human in a puff of smoke. She was still wearing that brown dress from before. "You, really looked for me?" Ruby asked in a soft voice, not looking Weiss in the eyes.

Weiss felt her cheeks redden. "Yes, so?"

Ruby shuffled her feet as she spoke. "The day we met, you ran. I thought we were playing chase, and, you stayed with me in the same place after you woke up from falling. But you only stayed there because you were stuck. And, I guess you were running in fear, not playing, the night before." Ruby whined softly. "I thought you wanted to be friends since you stayed, and you stuck with me after. But was that just because, You were scared? If you want, I'll leave... I'm, sorry.."

Oh... Heart... Shattering... Weiss clenched her chest, it paining her to see Ruby so sad. Why are you so cute dagnabbit– "I was scared." Weiss said bluntly. Ruby winced. "But, after spending a few days with you, you know what? You're not so scary." Weiss reached over and ruffled Ruby's hair. "Do you think I'd have cleaned you up in the river if I just planned to abandon you?"

Ruby was tearing up with relief. "Oh Weissss!" She pounced on Weiss with a hug. "I'm so glad! I was so lonely I didn't wanna go!" she nuzzled Weiss's chest and made happy sounding growls. Weiss tried to push down her blush. "So, we're friends? Really friends? Its not just me?" Ruby's eyes glowed.

Weiss squinted because of how brightly Ruby shone in her joy. "Y, yeah, we're.. friends." Weiss managed to choke our the word.

"Yay! I'm your girlfriend!" Ruby cheered. Weiss almost had a heart attack.

 _"Girlfriend?"_

"Yeah! I'm a girl! And your friend! Girlfriend!" Ruby let go of Weiss, and skipped around merrily.

Ah... Maybe, Weiss would wait on explaining on what that word meant till they reached the next town.. It, had been a long day after all. And hearing Ruby call Weiss her 'girlfriend' made Weiss feel, happy, for some reason. Weiss shook her head. She'd explain it later, definitely. For now, she was completely content with being Ruby's 'girlfriend'. Heh.


	4. Can you NOT out me please

"Girlfriend~ Girlfriend~" Ruby sung as she skipped along beside Weiss. This was killing her. Weiss, this was killing Weiss. Each time Ruby sang that word it felt like a knife being plunged into her chest. But somehow, in a good way? Why would it feel good to be stabbed. Weiss couldn't understand her own feelings.

"Hey Ruby?" Weiss called, stopping Ruby's song. Ruby looked at her expectantly. Weiss still had some questions about dragons she wanted answers to... And she'd do just about anything to stop Ruby's girlfriend song right about now. "Do you like being in dragon form or human form more?"

Ruby stopped, thinking for a moment. "Well, being human is like, wearing tight clothes. It's a little weird at first, but easy to get used to." She shrugged.

"Does it hurt?" Weiss asked hesitantly.

"Oh, no! It doesn't hurt at all!" Ruby waved her hands at Weiss. "In fact, I wouldn't mind staying like this all the time! Maybe just, I don't know, if I got something red to wear..." Ruby looked down at her brown dress. "I really liked looking at the color red."

Weiss turned back to the path ahead. "I'll buy you something red. When we get to the next city." She paused for a moment. "And this time, I'll take you in with me. You're not leaving my sight for a SECOND." She shot Ruby a quick glare.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head and smiled sweetly. "I'll be good!"

It took them 3 days to reach the next city. As it finally came into view, Weiss fell to her knees in relief. "FINALLY!" She clenched her fists and tried not to scream. Ah, she needed a nice big tub of water to stick her head in and just, scream out all her stress.

3 straight days of walking was hell on Weiss muscles. As good at the sword as she was, Weiss still wasn't used to roughing it this much. She was living in a cushy castle not two weeks ago. "Do you want me to carry you?" Ruby asked her.

"What? No, you're tired too, and I'd be to hea–AHH!" Weiss's speech was interrupted as Ruby hoisted her up, into piggy back riding position.

"Weiss, I'm a dragon. You're light as a feather!" Ruby trotted off towards the city, as Weiss began to feel sleepy.

"Uhhg... Fine. Just, wake me up before we get to the gate." Weiss mumbled as she drifted off.

"Weiss... Weisssss... WEISS!" Weiss was jolted awake by the sound of Ruby's voice.

"Huh? Where ar– ahh!" Ruby and Weiss were standing directly in front of the city gate. "Fffffffffffff Ruby!" Weiss hissed. "I said wake me before we get to the gate!"

"This is before the gate!" Ruby said, like nothing was wrong. Weiss hopped off Ruby's back, and started digging through her pack to find the fake ID she'd had prepared for her journey. She handed it to the guards.

"Name, White Sneeze. Race, human. Hails from, atlas. Age 18. occupation... Swordswoman?" The guard glanced at Weiss's rapier sword. He shook his head, not carrying enough to even ask. "Accepted. And your companion?"

"Yes, Ruby can I see your ID–" Weiss froze. Ruby wouldn't have an ID. She was a dragon for god's sake. Weiss turned back to the guard. "Sheeee, ummm, doesn't have one? Can we, get her one?"

"What's an ID?" Ruby chirped from behind Weiss. The guard groaned in annoyance. He told one of the other guards to get it done for them. Weiss and Ruby followed the new guard into a registration room.

"Ok, name?" He asked,

"Ruby!"

"Full name?"

"...Ruby?"

"Ruby Ruby?"

"Ruby!"

Weiss stepped in and chose a fake last name on the spot for Ruby. "Ruby Rose."

"Nice!" Ruby gave a thumbs up.

"Sorry miss Snow, I need to hear her say it." The guard ordered.

"Ruby Rose!" Ruby chirped.

"Right. Race? And birthplace?" The guard questioned as he tapped his quill on the side of the paper.

"Human." Ruby said. Weiss had briefed her before on how important it was that she pretend to be human. Ruby thought this was one such time to keep that facade up. "And I was born in the mountains."

"Which kingdom? Or are you an outsider?"

"Let's go with outsider." Ruby nodded, thinking carefully. There was no way dragon territory could possibly fall within the boundaries of any kingdom.

"Now age? And occupation." The guard yawned. He seemed tired… Or bored, it was hard to tell.

"16! And uhhh... Undecided?"

"Wait you're 16?" Weiss balked. "I thought we were the same age!"

"Well, you never did ask." Ruby raised an eyebrow and shrugged playfully.

"Hah, lucky you." The guard chuckled sleepily. "Old enough to work, but not old enough to be married off yet."

"Hm? Whats 'married'?" Ruby tilted her head.

"We'll talk about that later." Weiss brushed the question aside for the moment.

The guard read off Ruby's ID. " Name, Ruby Rose. Race, human. Hails from, the outlands. Age, 16. Occupation, undecided." The guard nodded, and handed it to Ruby. "And with that, you can enter and leave any city in the world. Now leave. Please." This guard really looked like he wanted a nap.

Ruby and Weiss were now in the bustling city, and Ruby kept taking out and looking at her ID. "Put that away!" Weiss scolded.

"K' Weiss– White" Ruby corrected herself.

Weiss shuddered. "Please don't. It's Weiss."

"Oh, sorry. Did they write it wrong? Are you not allowed to fix it?" Ruby shoved her own ID into her dress pocket.

"Well, not exactly. It's technically a fake ID, so people don't find out who I really am." Weiss cringed inwardly. "If they did, we'd have to leave."

Ruby bounced as she walked, getting right next to Weiss. She gave a catlike smile, and spoke almost in a whisper. "Me too~!"

Me too? What did she– oh right, the dragon part. If people found out Ruby was secretly a dragon... Yeah they'd definitely have to leave. Leave and never come back.

"We need to go to the guild and find a job to do. Something like wolf slaying. A city this close to the forest is bound to have wolves just crawling everywhere." Oh. That brought something back to Weiss's mind. "What was that fruit you gave me? When we first met?"

"Oh those? I'm not sure. I call them peachys! But they're nothing like peaches. If you eat one, all your hurt goes away! Like, I got cut really badly once in the mouth from a sword I bit, but I found the peachy tree and ate one, And then the cut was gone!" Ruby nodded to herself, but then looked guilty. "They don't seem to heal wounds caused directly by dragons though... So your eye will stay like that."

What? So that fruit was some kind of miracle heal item? No wonder that vendor wanted it! And considering what Ruby said it did, Weiss could have gotten so much more for it anywhere else! Well, what's done is done. She'd already sold it, and it wasn't like she was going to go all the way back there and demand more money for it. But, that other thing Ruby had said. That was interesting. Weiss touched her scar. So this was a scar that nothing could ever heal, huh? Honestly, she didn't mind it to much. She liked having a small bit of imperfection, similar to why she liked wearing a side ponytail. And it made her happy to think that if her father ever did steal her back somehow, he'd never be able to erase it. "Don't worry Ruby. I think it's kind of cool."

Ruby cheered right back up. "I could give you another!"

Weiss held in a laugh. "Pfft– No no, that's fine Ruby." She smiled affectionately "You dolt~"

Weiss and Ruby reached the guild. Everyone there looked battle hardened and mentally worn, even the girl at the front desk. Despite that, they all seemed to have a certain air of warm unity. That is, until they saw Weiss and Ruby. Weiss still had her hood up, not wanting extra attention due to her very noticeable hair. Eyes followed them as they walked across the front room.

A completely cloaked figure, and an oblivious looking girl being towed around by said unidentifiable figure, would raise a red flag in anyone's head. "Hey Weeeeisss...!" Ruby whispered. Weiss glanced at her. "Why's everyone looking at us like that?"

"People look at things that move. And we're moving." They stopped at the front desk.

"Weiss, we stopped but they're still looking." Ruby observed. Weiss ignored her. "Hey Weiss! He has a sword!" Ruby pointed at someone, still whispering. "I want a sword! Can I have a sword? Do you think I could use a sword? Oh! Can I get a sideways sword?" Weiss tuned out Ruby's whispers as the front desk lady noticed them standing there.

"May I see your identification sir?" She asked warily. Weiss handed over her ID. "Swords… woman? Oh, I'm sorry ma'am." The lady bowed slightly. "Would you like to take a ranking test? Or take a quest, and if you complete it correctly, you receive the rank of the quest you took. There is a 70% chance of death with the second option though."

"The second, please." Weiss answered. She didn't need the entire city to know how good or bad she was at swordsmanship.

"I need to run your ID through the system, you can take a seat at one of the tables." The lady said.

Weiss dragged the whispering Ruby to a table and had her sit next to her. The patrons of the guild gradually inched closer to them, like wolves circling their prey. Weiss shivered and pulled her cloak tighter around her head. Weiss heard a yelp behind her, and quickly whipped around to see Ruby pointing a knife at someone. "What are you do– put that down!" She scolded Ruby.

Ruby pouted. "He was gonna grab you! I'm being heroic!"

Weiss took the knife from Ruby and scooted it out of her reach on the table. "Wait, where did you get this?" She asked, taking the knife back and looking at it closely. It wasn't a kitchen knife. A hunting knife?

"Oh, it's his." Ruby pointed to someone a few feet away from them. The dude checked his pack, and to his dismay, it seemed that Ruby really had stolen his knife. Weiss tossed it back to him. "I'm good at grabbing things secretly!" Ruby said triumphantly.

The guy who Ruby said was going to grab Weiss spoke up. "I apologize sir, I was merely trying to tap your shoulder." Ruby made a small growl like sound, and looked very much like an angry and small puppy that had been told to behave. IT WAS ADORABLE. "May I ask your name?"

"... Weiss." Weiss said flatly.

"Oh?" The guy seemed surprised that she was a girl. "You're a woman?" he said before covering his mouth. He recovered quickly. "Ah, I just wanted to let you know. Slavery is illegal here, so..." He glanced at Ruby.

Excuse me? Just WHAT was he implying?! "Weiss, Weiss! What's a slave?" Ruby asked enthusiastically.

The guy spoke again. "A slave, is a person that someone else thinks as their own, and can order to whatever they wish. Every human is free in this city, and there are no slaves allowed." The guy nodded to Ruby, as if expecting her to yell at Weiss.

"Are parents slave owners? Parents own their children right?" Ruby just looked more confused. The guys plan had backfired.

"Wait, no, it's different with family–" He tried to salvage his main point.

"What if a parent tells their child to do something bad? Or to do something they really don't want to do? Isn't that like a slave owner? How's it different?"

"A parent... A parent loves their child and does their best to take care of them, they know better–"

"But what if they don't love you?" Ruby tilted her head.

"At that point, you just run away and hope you survive." Weiss mumbled, her mind wandering. Her words were heavy with personal experience.

"... Is that what you did?" Ruby asked softly.

"Enough!" The guy barked. "You! You're her slave right?!" He pointed at Ruby and Weiss. It seemed he'd had good intentions, but was going about it a bit of a nasty way.

"What? She doesn't own me, I'm following her!" Ruby hugged Weiss.

The guy realized he'd made a mistake, and tried to change the subject. "Oh... I'm, so sorry for assuming! So, what is she to you then?" He asked. He asked in the same way Weiss remembered nobles and princes asking her about her love life. She cringed inwardly.

"She's my girlfriend!" Ruby said, loud and clear.

Weiss almost fell out of her seat, choked on her own spit, and started coughing furiously. Whaaaat? Rubyyyy! You can't say that! AHHHHHHHH! Weiss mentally kicked herself for not explaining that term to Ruby properly. She felt a huge blush surfacing. Tonight, when they got a room tonight, her and Ruby were gonna have a talk. A LONG talk.

Someone walked by Ruby and Weiss, and their foot caught on Weiss's cloak. They tripped, yanking Weiss back a bit and making her hood fall off. Her long white hair in a side ponytail flowed out, and the whiteness of her hair just made her pink blushing face all the more obvious. "Weiss! You're pink!" Ruby exclaimed.

Weiss covered her face with both hands, and felt like she wanted to disappear into a black hole.


	5. Gayness intensifies

Weiss and Ruby had rented a room at an inn after they'd gotten Weiss's ID back and left the guild. Weiss wanted to thank Ruby, but at the same time she wanted to strangle her with all her might. Sure, that statement Ruby had made might've pushed away some of the chance that anyone would ask Weiss to date them, but now Weiss couldn't even look at Ruby without feeling a twinge of red appear in her complexion.

"I've never been on a bed before~!" Ruby bounced on her hands and knees. She flopped over into a mess of blankets, and stared up at Weiss. Aaaand there was Weiss's blush, right on schedule.

"Ruby, we need to, ummm, have a discussion! About some rules." Weiss took a deep breath. "First: You need to stay close by me at all times. Second: No revealing your dragon nature around humans besides me. Third: Don't... Don't say the word girlfriend again."

"What? Why not?" Ruby sat up and faced Weiss, worry written all over her face. "Did I do something wrong? I don't understand many human things, you have to tell me if I do Weiss." Ruby poked at the blankets sadly.

"No, you didn't! Just don't, call me that."

Ruby looked hurt. "Are we not friends anymore?"

"No no, I mean yes, uh, I'm your friend! I'm still your friend Ruby, you don't have to worry." Weiss sighed. "Its just, being friends, and being girlfriends are two different things."

"Different how?" Ruby tilted her head cutely.

"Uh. Well. Girlfriends, and boyfriends, do things like... Cuddling... And k.. Kiss.." Weiss looked literally everywhere in the room but at Ruby.

Ruby suddenly leaned way too close to Weiss. Weiss got pushed against the front end of the bed banister, with Ruby staring right into her eyes, an inch away from her face. "Can I kiss you, Weiss?" She asked.

Hhhhhhhhhhhslsjslsjalsnlwlakqlsjsk Weiss couldn't form even one coherent thought. Ruby was so, so close. Weiss's entire body was frozen. Ruby backed up, giving Weiss some breathing room. And breath she did, as apparently Weiss's body had forgotten how to breath for the 20 or so seconds that Ruby had been almost on top of her.

"Th-there's a thing called personal space!" Weiss screeched, while almost breaking her neck as she turned her head away from Ruby's still intense gaze. Ruby backed away some more, trying not to look as sad as Weiss KNEW she felt. Ahhhhhhggg! How to explain this correctly?

"I'm sorry! I won't do that again." Ruby said quickly.

Weiss regained a little composure, and tried again. "It's not a bad thing to be girlfriends.. I'm just not, uh, emotionally ready to go there yet! We're definitely friends still!" Weiss cleared her throat. "You become girlfriends with someone you love." There. That'd clear it up. Now, Ruby would see that she should take better care of her heart–

"I do love you." Ruby said bluntly. "Is that not ok?"

"Whhhhhh but I mean uh that's just because I'm the first human you met! Right? If, it were someone else, you'd have fallen in love with them, surely!" Weiss tried to deny the gayness of the situation.

"Nope! It's you. If it was a different human, I don't think I'd like that. We'd surely become friends! But I don't think I'd want to be their girlfriend after hearing then explain it like you did." Ruby tackled Weiss in a hug. "I loooveee you Weiss~" She purred.

Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god hug HUG AHHHHHHHHHHHH "E-even, if you love me, that doesn't mean I love you!" Ahhhh no! That came out way meaner than intended!

Ruby had her face on Weiss's stomach, and stared up at her. "How do you, get someone to love you?" Weiss could feel Ruby's warm breath seeping into her clothing. She shivered.

"You just... Spend time with them.." Weiss said softly, feeling herself slide into a lying down position from Ruby's tugging.

Ruby used Weiss's stomach as a pillow. "I'll try that then." She yawned sleepily. Ruby close her eyes, and in a few minutes Weiss was left alone in the dimly lit room to contemplate her entire existence with a cute girl sleeping on her. A thought ran through her head. Weiss remembered back when Ruby had first helped her out from under the log, and how Weiss was a second away from killing her. She was glad she'd decided not to murder Ruby.

Dark thoughts, but she was glad all the same. This girl was a handful. Weiss had originally thought she was going to play a mothering role in Ruby's life, but Ruby was technically fine on her own and didn't need a mother constantly with her. Like she'd said over and over again, what Ruby wanted and needed was a 'friend'. And it wasn't to uncommon for friends to fall in love with each other..

She was just so blunt back at the guild! Maybe, dragons didn't practice homophobia, and they just got with whoever they liked. Either way, Weiss was was glad that Ruby had no experience with homophobia. That was clear enough from her bold declaration. Weiss swore right then and there that she would DESTROY anyone who was mean to Ruby because of her girlfriend shout out back at the guild. 100%.

Now... A deep delve into Weiss's feelings. Did she love Ruby? She certainly enjoyed her company. They'd bathed together, so they were that close at least. Weiss did notice that she'd been blushing a lot around Ruby lately, but was that just because Ruby was so clueless and kept embarrassing herself? Or was it because she was cute? Cute. Ruby was reeeeally cute. Weiss glanced down at Ruby, still using Weiss's stomach as a pillow. She began to gently pet her head, Ruby nuzzling Weiss closer in her sleep. Well, love or not, she wanted to be with Ruby right now. And so she would stay.

The next day, Weiss and Ruby were exploring the surrounding area in the city. Or, Ruby was exploring. It was all Weiss could do just to keep Ruby in her line of sight. That girl was FAST. She wasn't a mother, but she was certainly the 'mom friend™'. Weiss managed to see something Ruby didn't in a store window. A red cloak. Weiss remembered Ruby saying a while ago that she wished she had something red to wear, and that cloak looked perfect! Weiss made a mental note of where the shop was located.

"Weiss! Look!" Weiss heard Ruby call from a block or two away. Why can't you just stay still for five seconds! Weiss rushed over, and Ruby pointed at a food stall with caramel apples. "Whats that? Its an apple but it's covered in goop!"

"You know, you CAN ask the person selling them." Weiss raised an eyebrow and rested a hand on her hip.

"But I wanted to ask you." Ruby said, still staring intently at the apples.

"They're caramel apples. It's an apple dipped in a gooey sugary sauce that hardens on it." Ruby seemed even more interested. Weiss sighed "Do you want one?" Ruby's eyes sparkled, and she nodded instantly.

Weiss bought her one, and they continued on their way. Ruby was unsure of how to eat it cleanly. She tried biting into it like a normal apple, and got caramel all over her nose. Weiss had to fuss over her to wipe it off. "Goo youf wanb a biesh?" Ruby offered Weiss some with her mouth full. So cuuute!

"I'm alright, and you look like you're enjoying it, so–" Weiss tried to decline, but Ruby shoved it towards Weiss's mouth. Weiss rolled her eyes, and took a bite. It was a perfect mix of bitter and sweet. Just like her and Ruby. Weiss shook her head to get rid of that last thought.

"You don't like it?"

"Oh no, I do. I was just thinking about something. The Apple's really good!" Weiss reassured Ruby, and Ruby happily munched some more. Weiss had discovered the secret to keeping Ruby still! Food. Of _course_ it was food.

When Ruby finished, Weiss noticed that she pocketed the stick from the Carmel apple. Meh, she'd tell her where she could toss it later. Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss thought she saw someone following them. Someone from yesterday maybe? Who else could it be? As Weiss was thinking, she heard a shout behind her and Ruby that made her forget the shadowy figure. "Stop! Thief!"

Some blond guy with a tail was running off with someone's bag. As he ran by, Ruby reached out and grabbed it. She had a second long tug of war with him, before some knights came around the corner. The guy dashed of, knocking Ruby into one of the food stalls by accident. It just so happened to be a stall selling honey. Ruby was now covered head to toe in a few jars of colorful sticky honey. It got in her eyes, so Ruby sat still, futilely trying to rub her eyes with her honey covered hands.

The knights caught up, and seemed intent on taking Ruby in, as she had possession of the stolen bag. But luckily a few bystanders testified that Ruby had tried to retrieve the bag from the real thief. Even the distraught honey merchant confirmed the truthfulness of those statements. The person whose bag was stolen thanked Ruby heartily. Ruby still had honey in her eyes.

Weiss knelt down in front of Ruby, and used her own cloak to wipe Ruby's face. Now with returned vision, Ruby looked at her appearance. "I'm all sticky now."

Weiss held in a laugh. "Yes, you are. Be more careful next time, alright?" How could Weiss scold her for something like this? Ruby hadn't done anything wrong, in fact she'd done something very, 'heroic' as Ruby had put it.

"Your cloak's sticky from my face." Ruby mumbled guiltily.

"Well, your entire body is sticky! We'll wash everything tonight, sound good?" Weiss poked Ruby's cheek, and Ruby nodded. Weiss took off her cloak, and gave it to Ruby to wrap around herself so she wouldn't get to many things stuck to her. Weiss noticed Ruby licking her hand as they went back to the inn. Honey was sweet, after all.

It took a LOT to wash honey off of someone's entire body, Weiss discovered. Weiss was reminded of the time she'd washed all that wolf blood and dirt from Ruby in the river when they first met. Hah. Weiss could definitely tell Ruby preferred this warm inn water to the cold stream.

Weiss needed to take a quest from the guild soon. They were almost out of money, and Weiss still wanted to buy Ruby that red cloak she'd seen. The thought of going back to the guild again with Ruby made her shudder. Weiss didn't know how well or unwell this town took gay stuff, and she didn't want to expose Ruby to that kind of negativity if they leaned towards non acceptance.

"Ruby? I'd like to go to the guild again tomorrow, and I was thinking, maybe you could go into the Forest and be a dragon for a little while." Weiss offered a compromise.

"Really? That's OK?" Ruby seemed excited at the idea.

"Yes, just make sure to stay out of sight, far away from the city and be back before nightfall, or I'll be worried sick." Weiss waved a finger at Ruby.

Ruby nodded happily. "OK! I haven't gone dragon in a while, it'll feel good to fly~!" Ruby tapped her feet merrily as Weiss dumped more water on her in the bath. "Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Yes?" Weiss absentmindedly replied.

"Do you want to fly?"

That question caught Weiss off guard. Fly? What was Ruby saying? Humans couldn't fly. "That would be nice, but I am a human. Humans won't fly, no matter how many times you toss them into the air." Joked Weiss.

"No no, I mean, so you want to ride me?" Ruby grinned

What?

Weiss tried not to take what Ruby had said the wrong way. "Ride you..? How exactly?" She coughed.

"In dragon form! When I picked you up before, you seemed really happy! Well, when you were awake that is. I'm worried my claws might scratch you if we keep doing it that way, so, maybe we could find a way to tie you to my back. Like when I was carrying you outside the gate!"

"Would that be ok? You're alright with something like that?" Of course she meant in that way. Well, the thought of riding Ruby to fly had certainly crossed Weiss's mind, but she hadn't asked as she'd thought it would have been seen as a rather rude question. But here, Ruby was offering.

"Yeah! I think it'd be fun! We'd have to get a really good rope though, so you won't fall off I'd I use my speed boost."

"Speed boost?"

"Every living thing has their special talents! We call them semblances! Dragons are really powerful, so we get to know ours almost immediately. Humans take a while to find theirs, if they even do find it at all. Mine is speed! I can go really fast! Also, turn into rose petals for a little while."

Uh. What. Weiss had never heard of this? "Everything has one? Even animals?"

"Umm, I'm not sure. I think it's just everything with a soul has the potential for a semblance, but just because you have a soul doesn't mean you'll find it. Do you have anything like that Weiss? Some weird power you don't show anyone? Or have you not discovered yours yet?" Ruby and Weiss had finished cleaning off, and were continuing their conversation as they walked back to their room.

"I haven't been able to do it properly yet, but all the women in my family have had the power to summon a ghostly figure of an enemy they've defeated to help them in battle. And it's not like a regular summon, it has no intentions of its own other than to protect the summoner. They can't even speak. Is that a semblance? Can a semblance be hereditary?"

"Who knows? Probably!" Ruby shrugged. "Semblances are weird sometimes."

"So, you can really just turn into rose petals at will?" Weiss asked, half joking.

Ruby smiled devilishly, and disappeared right in front of Weiss's eyes. A breeze blew through, and a cluster of rose petals softly wafted by Weiss. Ruby then appeared at the end of the hall, the rose petals mostly disappearing. What the FU–"I told you! Isn't it cool?" Ruby opened their room door, as that was where she'd traveled to in rose petal form. "Haha! Your face!" She giggled.

Great. Now Weiss was going to have ANOTHER headache trying to understand whatever the hell just happened. She pushed it to the back of her mind for now.

"Since you said your semblance is speed, does that mean that not all dragons are that fast?" Weiss tried to change the subject to ANYTHING but the rose petals thing.

"No, dragons are fast. I'm just, suuuper fast. Like my sister? She has suuuuper strength! We're all strong, but she's like twice, maybe three times as strong as the best dragon because of her semblance! Her semblance is if she gets hurt, she can send the same hurt back at someone twice as hard!"

"That sounds overpowered." Weiss thought out loud.

"Not really, she's always dead tired after battling someone. she still feels pain and stuff too, so it has its problems. Mine too, if I use my speed and rose petals for to long at a time, I faint for a minute or two. Which would be very bad in battle."

"I see." Semblances weren't without drawbacks, it seemed. But this was strange. How come Weiss had never heard of 'semblances' before? If everyone had the potential, shouldn't it be common knowledge? Unless, someone was purposely keeping such knowledge from the general public. Hmm...

Weiss thought she saw someone outside their room window for a second. But they were on the second floor, it must've been her imagination. No one would be able to get up there.

"Ruby? When explaining things to people, maybe next time, don't go into such detail about your personal weaknesses. Someone could take advantage of that." Weiss offered some advice.

"Ah. Yeah, I suppose that would be smarter?" Ruby rubbed the back of her head and blushed a little. So cute.


	6. Biological sister?

6/Weiss had gone to the guild alone. Like they'd talked about the night before, Ruby was gallivanting about the Forrest as a dragon and Weiss was going to get a quest. Unfortunately, her cloak wasn't dry yet. It HAD been dry, but a certain SOMEONE had spilled a glass of milk all over it that morning at breakfast. Weiss had been feeding Ruby fruit and sandwiches, things you could eat without utensils. She dreaded the day she'd have to show Ruby how to use a spoon.. So, because of that milk mishap, Weiss was going to the guild without her cloak.

Not TOO many people stared at her as she walked about the town, but Weiss made eye contact with some of the ones that did a few times, and sent a quick glare. She just hoped no one would be able to connect the fact that the princess was missing, and a mysterious girl with the same silvery white hair the royal family was known for was wandering around, and realize the obvious. Actually, she hadn't even heard anything about her disappearance yet. Maybe it wasn't public knowlage yet? Hm..

Weiss reached the guild, and walked straight to the quest board, examining her options. One caught her eye. Dragon slaying? She looked closer. According to the quest paper, a golden dragon had been sighted around the city recently. It hadn't done any damage yet, but the city's officials and nobles were worried that it might attack the city if it got too,hungry.

Huh. Reading that, made Weiss kind of sad. That dragon might just be a person living in this town, who fly's off to change form once in a while. before meeting Ruby though, Weiss supposed she'd have also wanted the dragon dead.. Ruby. A spark of worry ignighted in Weiss's heart. Ruby would stay out of sight, right? Weiss didn't want there to suddenly be a 'kill the red dragon' quest posted. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought.

Someone touched Weiss's shoulder. She tensed up, but a second later whipper around and pointed her sword at the persons throat. "Woa! Woa sorry! Ah, I was just trying to ask if you needed help? You look confused." the blonde lady Weiss was pointing her sword at said. Weiss's eyes were immediately drawn to the blonds chest. ...

Weiss removed her sword from almost killing her. "Sorry. no, I'm not confused."

"What're you looking at? Ohh dragon slaying? Gonna go after a dragon?" The blonde joked.

"No. If anything they should just leave it alone." Weiss grumbled, continuing looking for a quest fit for her.

The blonde seemed surprised at Weiss's answer. "What? If it gets left alone, it'd destroy the city!" She exclaimed.

Weiss shrugged "Why would it even want to? Its got to know by now that if it attacks a human, a hundred more will go after it."

The blondes eye twinkled. "You're alright girl!" She ruffled Weiss's hair. "My name's Yang! Whats yours?"

"Ahhk! Dont touch me..!" Weiss complained, batting Yangs hands away. "I'm an adult! I don't need any help!" Weiss tried to look tall. She failed.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Really? How old are you, 18?"

"...yes." Weiss glared.

"Woa me to! Same age!" Yang rested her arm around Weiss shoulders. Weiss tolerated it, it feeling similar to how clingy Ruby was sometimes. Weiss picked out a quest. Slay 10 shadow wolves, and bring back their claws as proof. shadow wolf fur was awful, Literally no one would by it, the poor wouldn't even use it to make blankets it was so bad. Bad, as in the had a horrid stench you could never wash off after they died, and it was almost sharp, how scraggly it was. The only thing they were good for was their claws, which could be made into necklaces or placed on various accessories.

"Hey." Someone behind Weiss and Yang called out. "Would you like a healing potion? For your eye." the guy offered.

"Dude you can't just ask that, maybe she likes the scar!" Yang hissed. Weiss snorted a little, holding in a laugh. Yang smiled "There we go, smile! It's better to be happy."

Weiss turned away. "I'm not smiling." She pursed her lips.

"Ohh~? You're not~?" Yang leaned in close from behind Weiss, staring at her with a large grin.

Weiss was determined not to laugh. Don't laugh, don't laugh... She glanced at Yang, and saw her crossing her eyes. "PFFFFFTTT–" Weiss tried to hide her laughter in a coughing fit. Yang laughed at her pitiful attempt to keep up her cold charade, and Weiss punched her lightly. "Shut UP." She calmed down after a moment or two, and took a deep breath. "I'm Weiss."

"Weiss the wolf slayer, eh?" Yang noticed the quest she was taking.

"Apparently." Weiss replied.

"So, is that a no on the healing potion?" the guy from before asked.

"Oh, I would, but it'd be wasted on me. My scar's permanent." Weiss raised her hands in a 'no thanks' position.

The guy didn't seem to believe her. "It's an extra anyways, just take it." He smiled kindly.

Weiss did, and smeared it on her eye. The healing potion glowed, then faded. Weiss's scar was still exactly the same, a line straight down her left eye. Both the guy and Yang looked shocked. "Whats wrong? I said it was permanent." Weiss tilted her head, confused.

Yang's eyes widened. "Uh, NO scar is permanent. How'd you get that thing?" Yang asked.

"Would you believe me if I said a dragon did it?" Weiss said in a joking tone.

"Yeah sure, a dragon faced you, and you got out with just a tiny scar. Perfectly believable!" The guy said sarcastically. He shook his head with a smile. "Its fine if you don't wanna say, just be carful miss!" The guy left, looking bewildered at Weiss's predicament.

Yang seemed troubled. "Yang?" Weiss poked her. Yang jolted, and looked at Weiss.

"Ah, ahahahaha..! I've got too, meet someone. See you around Weiss!" Yang jogged off, and left the building. Huh, strange. Had Weiss offended her somehow? Their conversation seemed to be going well, until she saw Weiss's scar didn't heal.. Maybe she'd keep its permanence a secret from now on...

No matter. On to wolf hunting! Weiss left the city, and went towards the forest outside its walls. It was a different Forrest then the one Weiss had first escaped into. Upon entering it, she saw that this one had almost no light seeping through the canopy, almost like it was night.

Maybe Weiss should have come with more then just her sword. The thought ran through her mind, before she heard a rustle in the bushes. She thought she saw someone for a second, but no mater how hard she looked back again, no one was there. Was someone following her? "...Yang? Is that you?" Weiss called, hoping that it was just a prank or something.

But course, it wouldn't be. A large lumbering shape stepped into Weiss's sight. A shadow bear. Seriously? Weiss could definitely, take down down, but she needed wolves! Not a bear! Not to mention, If a shadow bear caught your sent, it'd hunt you down for the rest of its life! She wanted to avoid the bear to save strength for the wolves too, so she dashed off. She dashed off, and discovered that its a lot harder to gather your bearings in a Forrest when you can't see the sky above you. This was great. Perfect. Just peachy!

Weiss could hear growls near bye. She carefully moved around each tree, as not to alarm anything. She peeked out from behind a bush. Wolves! 4 of them! Were there more near bye? ...hmm. Finding so many at once was, great, but could Weiss take them all at once? Or maybe..

This was stupid. This was a stupid plan! Weiss screamed at herself in her head, as she was being chased by an entire PACK of shadow wolves. She was lucky there were so many trees, it slowed them down. She'd never be able to outrun them on open ground. Weiss spotted a climbable tree, and scaled it instantly. From her tree branch safe haven, she watched the shadow wolves snarling and snapping their teeth beneath her, just itching to get a bite out of her. But she was juuust barely out of reach.

Weiss continued her plan. Dart her long sword at their hearts when they got close, and when all of them are down, cut off their heads. She did just that. Because she was so quick about it, Weiss was able to take down all 12 shadow wolves that had been chasing her within an hour. She quickly set about taking the nails off their corpses when she was sure they were dead. She had to do it with her eyes closed, she couldn't stand the sight of the nails being ripped from the flesh. After all were collected, Weiss climbed the tree she had been in to the very top. At the top, she could get a general idea of which way to go to get back to the city. She spied the city walls behind her. Not to far away, but a good distance. ...The canopy was really thick. Maybe, she could–

Weiss found herself jump running across the canopy of trees. She felt like a ninja, it was so fun! Was this joy similar to the feeling ruby got when flying? She'd have to ask later. She almost tripped up a few times, but was able to make it back without falling! Until the very end. Instead of slowing down, and carefully climbing down a tree at the edge, Weiss basically just flung herself over empty ground, crashing down like one would expect of someone who had just seemingly jumped out of a tree. She'd, got too caught up in the moment..

Weiss heard a yell as she fell. Not from her, no, someone else. "Are you ok?!" a voice asked her. Weiss sat up like a bullet and was about to draw her sword. "Wow hey! Calm down! Why'd you jump out of that tree? Is your leg alright?" some girl asked.

"I tripped." Weiss said harshly, as she stood. A jolting sting of pain shot up her leg, making her fall back down. Weiss clenched her teeth and felt small tears from in her eyes. The girl from before stared.

"You need some help?" She asked.

"No. I'm fine. Go, do whatever it is that you were doing." Weiss motioned for her to go away. Weiss knew how she probably looked to this girl. A pale, weak and hurt girl who was to far from home. Hah! Well, this week girl had downed 12 shadow wolves!

"Look girly, I'm not leaving you here on your own when you've either sprained or broken your foot." The girl shook her head. "What were you even doing in there?"

"For your information, I just took down 12 shadow wolves all on my own!" Weiss huffed. Ah. Maybe, she shouldn't have said that..

"Sure you did. Here, let's get you into town and get you to a healing potion." The girl helped Weiss stand. "I'm coco. Want to give me your name?" Weiss clutched her pack tightly, tensing up. "You're sure untrusting aren't you?"

Coco helped Weiss back to the town. She was in a party of 4, 2 of which were guys. Weiss was on edge the whole time, she was so helpless with her foot injured, and with 4 strangers around? Her danger senses were going off the charts. Everything looked like a potential threat. That rock could trip and kill her. That branch could cut her and give her a deadly infection. That shadowy figure watching her from the roof could throw a knife at her. That nail on the ground could puncture her foot and–

Wait. Shadowy figure?

Weiss looked back to the roof, but nothing was there. Was she hallucinating? Coco brought her to the guild, and Weiss sat in one of the seats there and tried to look normal. "Oh look! That's my friend! You can go now!" Weiss insisted. She didn't see anyone she recognized, but she just wanted the nice girl to go away. Weiss didn't want any more traveling companions.

Coco and her party reluctantly agreed. After they left, Weiss was able to breath a sigh of relief. She forgot about her injury and stood, hissing and clutching her foot as she fell straight back down. Weiss hopped on one foot to the front desk. She held out the quest paper and the bag of shadow wolf nails.

"Oh my, you look exhausted." The front desk girl said, wincing.

"You don't know the half of it." Weiss groaned.

"Right, you have all the nails here, and two extra sets! You can turn them in here for a little extra pay on this quest, or keep them." The front deal girl offered.

"Turn them in, please."

"And how many in your party?"

"Party?"

"Your group, how many people were in the group you were in?"

"I didn't have a group. It was just me." Weiss stated.

The girls eyes narrowed. "And how, did you get 12 at once?"

"I found 4 of them, and I got them to chase me. The trees slowed them down. By the time I found a tree to climb, I had 12 tailing me. From the tree I just, punctured the hearts of each one that got close." Weiss could clearly see the awe in the girls face. "Is that, not how people normally hunt them?"

"Swords can't puncture a heart like tha–" the girl started, and Weiss took out her sword.

"Its a rapier blade." Weiss made a jabbing motion. "It can easily slide right through flesh."

"I... Suppose, I've got to believe you then. But, a word of advice. Bring a partner next time? Almost no one does quests alone, because of the danger, and because you don't have a witness. If someone robs you of your loot, and their party testifies that THEY found it, against your word, they'll get to keep it. You're just one person." The guild girl nodded to herself. "Please bring someone with you next time. For your sake."

Weiss was paid for the quest, and thought on the guild girls words. Yeah. Yeah she was right. Maybe, Weiss would take Ruby next time she went on a quest... Weiss hopped on one foot back to her previous seat. Now then... Where to get a healing potion?

"Weiss!" a voice called. Who? "How're you doing?" Yang took a seat next to Weiss.

Weiss made an 'Idk' kind of gesture. A shrug with one eye squinting while looking to the side. "I've been better. Do you know where I can buy healing potions?"

"Oh?" Yang looked at Weiss's foot. It was starting to swell a lot. "Yeesh! That looks like it hurts!" Yang pointed to a stall near the front entrance. "You can get small ones there. I think that'll get your foot feeling better, but you'd better stay off it a few days just to be safe. Hand me a few silver's and I'll get you some." Yang offered.

Weiss obliged. Yang returned and helped Weiss apply it, and even though poor Weiss tried not to show how much it hurt, Yang could tell. Yang sat next to Weiss after smearing it on her foot, and hugged her close. Weiss felt like she was in her sister Winters arms again, and relaxed a second.. But she then remembered where she really was, far from home with no one to look out for her. She tensed up.

"Sorry!" Yang raised her hands. "Ah, my big sister instincts kicked in." Yang smiled sheepishly.

"You have a sister?" Weiss tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, she's a total dork. But I love her. Such an excitable little thing." Yang reminisced.

Weiss was reminded of Ruby. "Hah, I know someone like that."

"You got a little sister too?" Yang asked, stretching her arms.

"Yes. Well, no. I have an older sister, but the person I'm thinking of is more a, travel partner."

"So you're a little sister, huh? It suits you." Yang smiled. Her smile kind of reminded Weiss of Ruby too.

"I hope you mean that in a good way." Weiss yawned. The day had exhausted her, and the sun had just barely starting to set. Sunset.. Sunset? Oh! It was almost dark! She'd told Ruby to be back by sunset! Be back where? Weiss had meant back at the room at the inn, but, ruby might've thought she meant ad the guild, since Weiss had said that's where she would be. Uh-oh. Weiss wasn't sure. But, her concerns were put to rest a second later.

"Weissss!" Weiss heard Ruby call from across the guild. Yeah just yell it out there! Why bother trying to keep a low profile? Its not like she'd already outed herself and Weiss to the entire guild.

"Speak of the devil, there she is now." Weiss poked Yang and motioned to Ruby.

As Ruby came closer, she gasped. "YANG!" She nearly teleported to them she was so fast, and tackled Yang to the floor in a hug.

"Who the hell are you– wait, Ruby?!" Yang yelped in surprise.

"Oh Yang I missed you so much~!" Ruby nuzzled her sisters chest. "Ah, and look! I finally did it!" Ruby motioned to her human form.

"Wait Ruby, how do you know her?" Weiss interjected, Yang couldn't be–

"My sister! She's my older sister I told you about!" Ruby chirped, sitting up on the fallen Yang's stomach.

Weiss was silent for a moment. "...biological sister? As in, same species?"

"Yeah! Why?" Ruby tilted her head cutely.

Weiss stared at Yang with pursed lips, unconsciously touching her scar. Yang looked as though some ancient secret she was supposed to protect had gotten out. Which in a way, was true. And Ruby just sat on top of her sister, blissfully unaware of the mental battle raging in both the older girls heads.


	7. Let's have a talk

Weiss was sitting on her bed next to Ruby, and Yang was in a chair a few feet away. "So." Weiss broke the ice. "You're a dragon."

Yang covered her face with her hands. "Aaahhhhhuugggg you're not supposed to _KNOW_ that..!"

"It'd be pretty hard not to, considering Ruby had her first dragon-to-human transformation in my lap while I was sleeping. And you're blood related sisters, so.." Weiss raise an eyebrow.

"Half sisters, yeah, but both our moms were dragons. She seriously did it right on top of you? Oh god." Yang groaned. "This is the first time someone's found out, I don't, I'm not sure what to do? What's the protocol for this? Am I supposed to kill you or–"

"I wouldn't let you kill her." Ruby huffed. "And I know you wouldn't do that anyways sis."

"I might, to protect you." Yang tried to look threatening. Emphases on 'tried'

"Well I'm protecting HER so NYEH!" Ruby stuck her tongue out playfully, making Weiss try to hold in a laugh.

Yang saw how Ruby and Weiss interacted, and her expression softened. "So you really like her, huh Ruby?"

"Yep! I want her to be my girlfriend!"

Weiss face palmed and Yang had a coughing fit. "I'm sorry what?" Her pervious softness was replaced by intense concern.

"I.. Explained the meaning to her, but she's still insistent." Weiss said, turning away to hide a blush.

"Uh.." Yang was at a loss for words.

"I don't see what the big deal is, I mean, you have a girlfriend don't you Yang? Haven't you told her you're a dragon?" Ruby asked.

"Uh, NO, no I have not told her." Yang looked at Ruby like she was crazy. "Literally everyone hates dragons? And they're right to, considering how many attacks happen. We're the rare ones, getting girlfriends and trying to live as people."

Ruby looked puzzled. "Are we? Huh."

"It's amazing that you found the one person in the world who wasn't scared of dragons to hang out with Ruby, but you still–" Yang tried to say, but was interrupted.

"I hated dragons." Weiss said plainly, defending Ruby. Yang and Ruby stared. "Who wouldn't? With all the story's and almost monthly attacks. When I first saw Ruby I thought I was going to DIE."

"You said you were scared, but I didn't know you were _that_ scared.." Ruby said shifted in her seat awkwardly.

Weiss put a hand on her shoulder. "Dolt. Remember what I said? You're not so scary after getting to know you." Weiss bopped the side of her head against Ruby's head lightly, while looking away from her. "I'm glad I got stuck under that log long enough to see you for who you really are." She mumbled.

"You got trapped under a log?" Yang raised An eyebrow and snickered a little.

Weiss let out the frustrations she'd been keeping inside about that moment. "Yes, it was terrifying! I thought she was keeping me there to eat me! Turns out she just thought we were playing 'chase' and I was taking a break. I mean, she fed me some aincent miracle fruit so I wouldn't starve, and eventually helped me out of there once I asked." Weiss recalled how helpless Ruby had been in human form at first and stifled a laugh.

"I'm glad you two get along, but! The question still stands! Will you keep this secret? To the death? Also I'm still not sure how I feel about you dating my sister!" Yang dramatically pointed a finger. Her previous joking aura was being engulfed in paranoia again.

"No no, as soon as I'm on my death bed I'll shout out 'hey everyone! Dragons can take human form!'" Weiss said sarcastically. "Its her you need to worry about!" Weiss pointed to Ruby. "She wanted to sightsee after stepping on someone and breaking a window with her tail in a village!" she calmed down, and spoke more softly. "Also uh we're not datin–"

"Me? The only reason I broke that window was cause you were getting murdered!" Ruby shifted the blame.

Weiss glared "I was fine!" she wasn't fine. "I definitely could have gotten out there perfectly alright!" She definitely couldn't have.

"Wait wait wait. You two. Are you saying, Ruby, you barged into a city in your DRAGON form, and then left without doing anything?" Yang looked ready to faint.

"Well I picked up Weiss after she finished yelling at me." Ruby said under her breath.

"You two were talking? Weiss! What would you have thought if you saw someone talking to a dragon and not die, before you met Ruby." Yang clasped her hands together, and stared at Weiss.

"..that, they were a legendary dragon tamer..?" Weiss was beginning to see the problem.

"Exactly. Dragon tamers don't really exist, its usually just some human a dragon's took a liking too. It–" Yang choked on her sentence, and coughed.

"Do you want me to get you a glass of water?" Ruby offered her sister. Yang nodded.

As soon as Ruby left, Yang's tone shifted. "Alright, Weiss. You're planning on sticking with Ruby right? You need to know a few things."

"What things..?"

"Ok Ruby? We kind of accidentally emotionally and socially stunted her." Yang admitted solomly. "It was totally an accident, but uh, yeah.."

"Um, how do you emotionally and socially stunt someone?"

"Well, our dads human. And my mom left. Ruby's mom was there for a while, but, she was slain. Also don't try to get into that 'oh but you're half dragon then' no that's not how it works, as long as one parent is dragon the kid is full dragon. Their main form until 16 is just whichever form their mom gave birth to them in." Yang was giving quite the info dump.

"Ok, so her mother died, but that doesn't explain why you said she's–"

"Ah, but it does. I had my mom, and Ruby's mom to teach me stuff till I was about 5. Having a dragon mother around is CRUCIAL for a dragons development. ...Probably. I mean there's no other explanation for why she's like this." Yang shook her head. "Ruby only got 3 of the 5 years she needed." Yang looked at the door Ruby had left out of to get water. "I was to young to understand how much she needed me by her side. I was still there, but not as much as I should have been. Our dragon uncle was fun, but he wasn't around a lot. And our human dad couldn't really do much for us, despite how much he loved us both."

"I'm having a hard time following." Weiss raised her hands in a 'slow down' motion. This was getting.. Heavy.

Yang saw how uncomfortable Weiss was becoming, and reassured her. "Well, there isn't really anything _super_ wrong with her.."

"Then what was that lecture just now?" Weiss demanded.

"Ok, its-its hard to explain. Because she like, didn't develop fully, she's still doing it..? Or something? Its not like she has the mentality of a toddler–"

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm certain. We tested it." Yang sighed. "Uuuuhhhgggg I wanna make puns! Not explain my sisters weird condition!"

"Poor you." Weiss's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Right. So, back to the topic. Ruby is, Socially stunted. As in she doesn't make contact with other people well. I'm not sure what the HELL your deal is, but, she seems to like you. Have you ever seen her talk to someone? Other then you? Try it next time you're at the guild, trust me she's awful. A brick wall would be better at talking then her. The only people she can successfully converse with are me, our dad and uncle, and apparently you."

Weiss made a mental note to push Ruby into a conversation with someone next time they were at the guild. "What about the emotional part?"

"She can't express her emotions properly somtimes? She's able to hide it pretty well most of the time, but somtimes she'll just snap and the wrong emotion gets displayed." Yang thought a moment. "The most noticeable is pain, she'll get hurt, and half the time she starts laughing instead of crying. She still hurts, its just her brain switched laughing and crying for whatever reason."

"Ok, question: why did that take so long to explain?" Weiss jabbed at Yang.

"What? What do you mean?!"

"You went on about cryptic bull crap and back story for like, 10 minuets! Literally all you had had say was 'Ruby didn't get proper care as a child so now her emotions are screwed over and she has zero social skills'"

Yang looked into her lap, blushing faintly. "...well you don't have to be so blunt about it. Its not like I try to explain this to people very often."

Weiss flinched a little. Ah. She was doing it again. She'd lash out over something small, and everyone would leave her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh." She hated that part of herself. It reminded her of her father. She wanted to do everything he didn't do, be everything he wasn't. Stupid. So stupid. Uhg and now her foot was starting to hurt again.

"What? Why are you crying?" Yang stood up and reached towards Weiss.

Weiss scooted away. "I'm not! Shut up this isn't about me!" She sniffeld and wiped her eyes. "We're talking about Ruby."

"Uh-huh.." Yang raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you've got some emotional bull crap to deal with as well." Weiss glared. "Ahh, I didn't mean it like that. Come on~. Now that I think about it, where's Ruby?" Yang wondered out loud.

Yeah. She was talking, quite a long time to get that water. Weiss turned back to Yang after glancing at the door. "So. What you're saying is, I need to help your sister socialize, and try not to think shes posessed if she looses an arm or something and starts giggling."

"Pretty much yeah."

"Ok I can see how that is technically emotionally and socially stunted, but, I'd advise against wording it like that next time. It makes it sound a lot worse then it is."

"There won't BE a next time, hopefully. Oh, and another thing. You know how she's like a puppy? That'll last for a while but fade eventually. Its the 'first human transformation' excitement. Everything's so new, she just has to get used to it, all this human stuff. It took me a while too. Remember, before now she was literally an animal in the woods. A smart animal, but still."

"You're not offended at calling dragons animals?" Weiss tilted her head.

"Why would I be? Everything's an animal! Fish are animals, humans are animals, faunus are animals, dragons are animals.." Yang continued on. Weiss decided not to comment on Yang's statement.

After Yang finished listing things she considered animals, Weiss stood up. "I'm going to go see whats taking Ruby. Also, what was that about 'dragon tamers' you were about to say before she left?" She walked to the door, but as soon as she opened it, she froze. A fallen glass of water spilled on the floor, and a note beside it came into her vision. 'Come to the edge of the Forrest alone, if you ever want to see her again' it read. Weiss fell to her knees.

Yang was about to reply, but stood up quickly when she saw Weiss sitting at the door entrance. "Something wrong?" Yang asked. She saw rushed over, and saw the note. "...oh god."

"Does, this mean she's been kidnapped..? What do I, I don't–" Weiss panicked. She hadn't felt like this since,,, Since forever? What emotion even was this? Fear? It was different from when she feared her father or a shadow wolf, what was it?

"I think I know who did this." Yang said, covering her face and hiding her expression.

"You do? Can you talk them out if it?" Weiss grabbed Yang's arm. Wait. Why did she care? Didn't she want to be rid if Ruby? Oh but she was so sweet, and cute, and– but no, it was, better if she was gone. Right? Ah... Weiss came to a realization. She truly DID enjoy Ruby's company. This had, never happened before. Even with Winter, Weiss didn't feel this bad when she'd left. Maybe because she knew winter was safe, and Ruby wasn't? No, it was something else. Weiss was starting to feel like she actively seeked out Ruby's affection. Oh GOD was this a crush? Noooo!

While Weiss was having her internal meltdown, Yang asked another hard hitting question. "Weiss, you wouldn't happen to be some kind of big-shot royalty would you? Like a princess? Or a queen?" That alone was enough to shock Weiss back to reality. She immediately tensed up and scooted away from Yang. How, how did she know? "Oh god you are aren't you. Oh noooo..." Yang groaned.

"What, what what does that matter?!" Weiss fumbled over her words. "Do you mean they just kidnapped Ruby to get at me? And Who, who do you even know that hunts down royalty?"

Yang winced. "...My girlfriend."


	8. This totally didn't count as kidnapping

I can't believe I'm doing this, Weiss thought to herself, as she stepped gingerly towards the edge of the forest. Weiss thought back to what Yang had said ten minutes ago. 'Don't worry, she's super calm! Just talk peacefully, mention Ruby's my sister and she'll be alright! I'll follow you in an hour!' That had better work, Weiss thought. If not, Ruby might be a goner. A goner? What did that even mean? Would this kidnapper kill Ruby? She was Yang's girlfriend, so... Actually Weiss didn't know Yang to well. For all she knew, Yang might be totally into the murderous crazy type. Uhg.

How had this even happened? Weiss was certain at this point that her disappearance wasn't public knowledge, so how could some bounty hunter or assassin have found out her whereabouts? A bell sounded in Weiss head. Oh.. She thought back on the past few days, past week even. That shadowy figure she'd convinced herself was just paranoia. That time she thought there was someone with her in the woods. That figure she saw outside the second story window at the inn– ok maybe not that last one, bounty hunter/stalker/assassin or whatever they were, it would be pretty impossible to get up there that silently. Unless they were like magic, or a faunus. Both highly unlikely. But that still didn't explain WHY they had known to look for her in the first place!

Weiss was at the edge of the forest now. "Ruby?" She called. Silence. Well, if that would have worked then she wouldn't have needed to be so stressed in the first place. Ugh. She lifted a foot to step inside, when a blade landed right where she would have stepped a moment later. Weiss gasped and drew her sword on instinct. Her eyes darted around the dark foliage, unable to make our much.

"You came." A voice said. A female voice. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, but also nowhere. All that did was make Weiss even more tense.

"So I did. Where's Ruby." Weiss gritted her teeth. Ohhhhh she was gonna stab this girl SO hard when she found out where she was!

"Put down the sword." the voice said.

"I'd like to keep my head thankyou." Weiss kept looking for the source of the voice. Stall, stallll..!

"Drop it or she gets hurt."

Weiss felt a twang of guilt. She didn't want to be responsible for any harm coming to Ruby, dragon or not. Weiss set her sword down gently, and kicked it away from the forest, so the voice couldn't have it. Nyeh.

"Come into the forest." The voice said. This voice was starting to really piss Weiss off. But, Ruby..

"If it's me you want, let her go, she has nothing to do with this." Weiss growled.

"Hmm, I could do that.." The voice said evilly. Evilly? It didn't sound, truly evil? More like someone trying to play a villain in a school play. Interesting. Weiss decided to play her trump card.

"She's Yang's little sister!" She said loudly.

A branch snapped, as if someone had lost their footing in the trees for a second. Ohoh, so she was in the trees? "You– how do you, what?!" The voice lost its composure. Heh.

"She's Yang's sister! Ask her!" Weiss yelled.

The voice went silent. A few moments later, it spoke up again. "If you're lying, you're going to die on the spot." The voice threatened. Again, it sounded like someone playing a role they were bad at. It didn't scare Weiss at all. Who knew a death threat could be so un-threatening? "Come." The voice tossed a rock or something in front of Weiss. She had no choice but to follow the path that was being created.

Weiss walked silently, and to her annoyance, she could never tell where the rocks and sticks that made sounds when thrown at the ground were coming from. How could someone be this agile and silent!? Her foot was starting to ache even more.. Yang had said to stay off it a few days... Weiss came upon a cave. Inside, she could see a faint flicker of light around the corner. Weiss immediately dashed into the cave and to the light source. "Ruby?" she turned a corner, and saw Ruby snuggled into a mess of blankets, sleeping peacefully. Next to her was a lit lantern, the source of light. Weiss sunk to her knees in relief. As un-threatening as Yang's kidnapper girlfriend's threats had sounded, Weiss had still been worried. But Ruby was fine. She was fine. Weiss stood, and went to Ruby's side. "Wake up!" Weiss yelled and stomped her foot. Ruby's body jolted, but stayed asleep. "Hey! Do you know how worried I was?! How were you so carless that you go kidnapped just trying to get a glass of water! Hey! Heyy!" Ruby didn't wake up.

Weiss felt a chill run down her spine. She was sleeping, and not dead right? Yeah, she was alive, she'd jolted in her sleep a moment before. Maybe she was just a heavy sleeper.. Weiss shook Ruby, calling for her to wake up, but nothing worked. Not even pulling her hair. "She won't wake up unless she takes the antidote." The voice from before said. A black haired girl with a large bow in her hair stepped into the cave. Weiss reached for her sword, but then recalled how she'd gotten rid of it at the forest edge. ...uh-oh.

Weiss stood in front of Ruby, as if guarding her. "What do you want from me." She said cooly.

The kidnapper leaned against the wall, and spoke casually. "You."

"Slavery?" Weiss blurted out what she had been secretly dreading the whole time. Her statement made the kidnapper stumble in place.

"What? No! God no!" the kidnapper held up her hands in front of her. "That's illegal!"

Weiss stared at her like she was an idiot. "...so is kidnapping?"

The kidnapper glared. "Ok technically. But I was going to let her go anyways so it doesn't count. Besides, she won't even remember it."

Weiss was at an impasse. Why would anyone want to kidnap her, even going as far as to kidnap someone else just to get her, if it wasn't for slavery? There's no way her father would want her back. The only person who would want to retrieve her, might be... "Winter?"

"Hm?"

"Uh, why do you want me? If not for slavery?" Weiss asked. She'd ease into asking if it was winter who'd requested it.

The kidnapper seemed to cringe every time Weiss said the word 'slavery'. "My client is none of your business."

"So then it is slavery? Because if its anyone but my sister, its going to be slavery." Weiss said.

The kidnapper twitched at the word again. "Stop saying that! And you can't just run away from your problems! It doesn't work.." She sounded like she spoke from experience.

Weiss felt a wave of melancholy wash over her, and folded her arms tightly. She, really had just been running from her problems. Running from the throne, running from an arranged marriage, running from her father.. Maybe her father really HAD hired someone to find her, if only to lock her down even tighter when she returned. I don't want to go back. I do"n't want to go back.." Weiss found herself mumbling half her thoughts out loud.

"...To bad." The kidnapper said, not looking Weiss in the eyes.

Weiss needed a way out. Even if she left Ruby here, Yang would find her and rescue her within the hour for certain. And now that Weiss didn't need to worry about Ruby's safety, all she had to do was run. The farther she ran, the safer ruby would be from anyone who wanted to attack Weiss. It would be better to leave her..

"You don't have anything on me." Weiss stood her ground, banishing her depressing thoughts. "Yang will come soon and get Ruby, and once she's safe, you've got NOTHING tying me down." Weiss growled in defiance.

The kidnapper reached a hand behind her to grab her blade. Weiss lunged like she was going to tackle her, but ran out of the cave instead. She was free. But alas, that freedom was short lived. Apparently the kidnappers blades had ribbons or ropes attached to them, easily snagging Weiss's injured foot and flinging her back into the cave.

Weiss shook off the foot ribbon, but now the kidnapper was intensely guarding the exit. "What now princess?" The kidnapper challenged.

"Ahchoo!" A sneeze. Weiss and the kidnapper looked behind them, and saw Ruby sitting up, bleary eyed. She stretched and yawned, slowly taking in her surroundings. "Hey... Weiss.." She mumbled sleepily. The kidnapper was in shock. Weiss looked between her and Ruby. Maybe, whatever she had drugged Ruby with was supposed to be permanent! But it wore off because Ruby was a dragon!

...oh no.

This put a damper on Weiss's plan. How was she supposed to run and abandon Ruby, if she was awake and watching? Oof... Abandon... That is, what she'd be doing if she left. Abandoning her. "Go back to sleep Ruby." Weiss tried to sound as calm as possible. But her voice woke Ruby right up.

"Weiss? Where are we?" Ruby looked around frantically. "Who's that?"

"This? This is Yang's girlfriend." Weiss introduced the kidnapper harshly, but Ruby's eyes lit up.

"Really? Oh my gosh! I wanted to meet her for so long!" Ruby whispered exitedly into Weiss's ear. She turned her gaze upon the kidnapper. "Weissss ask for her name..! Yang's always so cryptic, she's never told me!"

Weiss decoded to humor Ruby. "She asked for your name."

The kidnapper seemed to be running on auto pilot due to the unforseen events transpiring. "...Blake."

Blake, was it? Well, calling her that was easier then calling her 'the kidnapper'. "Hello Blake!" Ruby chirped, then nodded her head and hummed happily next to Weiss, an awkward smile plastered to her face. Her peppiness started dropping. It was as if she used all her social skills for that one moment, and was now back at zero. She really was starting to resemble a brick wall. Ruby looked at Weiss, and regained the ability to speak. "You're so tense Weiss, are you ok?"

"She kidnapped you." Weiss said flatly.

"Huh? Well, even if that was true, I'd be fine since I'm a dr–"

"BLAAAA!" Weiss yelled to cancel out the word dragon. "You DOLT you're no supposed to say that!" Weiss said through gritted teeth.

"What? But it's Yang's girlfriend, why shouldn't I– ohhh right she hasn't told her yet.. Sorry.." Ruby apologized, and went to stand behind Weiss. "Did you kidnap me Blake? Because if so, that's a very bad first impression." Ruby was only able to speak to blake semi-normaly while hiding behind Weiss apparently.

"She's a runaway thief!" Blake pointed at Weiss.

"What?! I am not! Who told you that!?" Weiss hadn't stolen anything! Wait maybe.. No, no there was nothing she'd taken from home that was valuable! Except her sword, but that had always been hers!

"Your Mother!" Shouted yelled back.

Weiss froze. Her mother? Her mother was getting treatment for her addiction to alcohol, in another kingdom. Her mother wasn't within a thousand miles of where they were. It couldn't have been her. Blake was lying.

"Ruby get back, she's lying." Weiss hissed.

Ruby stepped back a little. "How do you know she's lying?" Ruby asked softly.

"My mother isn't even in the country. And if my father wanted me back, it could only be for bad reasons." Weiss was breathing rather quickly. It's as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the room to keep her alive. Strange, no one else was having trouble breathing. What could Weiss do? Blake was accusing her of stealing? Stealing what? And who would pose as her mother?

"Yo whats up girls!" Yang suddenly barged in out of nowhere, holding Weiss's sword. She paused upon entering, seeing Weiss and Blake just about ready to tear each others throats out, with a confused Ruby behind them. Yang set Weiss's sword down and calmly walked over to Blake, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Ok, lets talk through this slowly–"

"She's the second Atlas princess!"

"What." Yang immediately tensed up and took a defensive position. Huh? "Ruby come here." Yang commanded.

Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss's middle. "No! Not unless you explain whats going on! Why did your girlfriend kidnap me? And why are you mad at Weiss?!"

Yang was still in a defensive position, but spoke to Ruby softly. "Ruby, You wouldn't understand–"

"You're right I don't! Because you wont tell me! Weiss has been nothing BUT great ever since I met her! Even when she's mad she's nice!" Ruby hugged Weiss tighter as Weiss felt her cheeks redden.

Where was this situation headed? Neither Yang nor Blake looked like they'd just sit and 'talk' now. Weiss was so confused. Now that her adrenaline rush was gone, her foot was throbbing unbearably. She was exhausted from her wolf slaying quest and the stress from worrying about Ruby, and just wanted to go to bed. She'd already started crying just from thinking about her life in front of Yang earlier, she didn't want to do it again.

Weiss felt like a caged animal. No way out. Yang was a dragon! With a kidnapper girlfriend! There's no way she could get away from those two! Her foot was starting to distract her to much with the pain, so much so that she had to shift her center of balance. Yang glanced at Weiss's foot and winced a little.

Weiss's vision was getting swimmy. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. What? She couldn't black out now! No! But despite her protest, her consciousness slowly left her. The last thing she felt before the world went dark, were Rubys arms clasped tightly around her, holding firmly as not to let her fall.


	9. Don't make the same mistake I did

Soft. Weiss felt something very soft, and warm. It was so nice, she hugged it tightly and buried her face in it. What could it be? It was what she Imagined a cloud would feel like, if you could pluck one out of the sky. It smelled familiar... Weiss opened her eyes, and a flood of memories came back. The cave? Kid napping? Yang hated her now? Weiss saw that the soft thing she'd been cuddling had been Ruby, and she'd been smelling her hair in particular. Ruby glanced over "Oh, you're awake Weiss?"

Weiss squeaked embarrassedly and pushed herself away from Ruby, falling out of the bed they were in. She banged her head, curling up into a ball while clutching it from momentary pain. Bed? Room? Weiss sat up, seeing they were back at the inn. Had all that stuff before just been a dream?

She wised it could have been, but Blake sitting in a chair in the corner of the room told her otherwise. Yang was next to Blake, and It looked like they'd both been reading a book together, but were disturbed by Weiss flinging herself out of the bed. "About time you got up." Yang said in an amused voice. Weiss felt her head, wincing at how bad her bed head was. She tried to tame it with her hands for a few seconds, but gave up.

"We talked while you were sleeping." Ruby said, scooting to the edge of the bed and peering down at Weiss.

"I see." Weiss looked at her foot. It seemed mostly better. It would make sense that a healing potion needed a few hours to take full effect, and it probably helped that she'd slept. And had also stopped walking around an uneven forest on said foot.

"Did you really steal half your family's fortune and run off with it?" Ruby asked bluntly. Blunt, in a curious way, as if she didn't care weather Weiss had or hadn't.

What? Where on earth had they heard that? Maybe from whoever had posed as her mother? She needed to ask Blake about that in more depth... "The only thing I 'stole' was a bit of my fathers pride since he couldn't marry me off the next day." Weiss scoffed. "I didn't take any money, why do you think we went to the guild? I was going to tell you before, but I completed a quest while you were gone." Weiss motioned to her pack, which she'd stored her earnings from yesterday in.

Ruby was silent. She turned and shot Yang and Blake an unamused stare, as if to say 'I told you so'. "Reeeealy? Isn't that INTERESTING?"

Yang folded her arms and raised an eyebrow playfully. "She could be lying you know!"

"And why would she do that? You looked through her stuff yourself, and said she doesn't have anything bad!" Ruby huffed. Uh. Yang had gone through her pack? Weiss glanced over at it. She couldn't tell. If Ruby hadn't mentioned it, she probably wouldn't have noticed at all. Although, she was sure if Yang had taken anything out she wouldn't have been able to put it back in the exact same place. But then again, Weiss wearing her pack and jostling it around messed up her organization in the pack so much anyways maybe she wouldn't have noticed. Who knows. Weiss was to stressed to think straight.

Blake returned to the book she was reading before, while Ruby and Yang glared at each other. It only took them about 10 seconds to break into a fit of giggles. Ruby was so cute when she laughed. "You know, I bet we could get Blake to do a more through background check." Yang joked.

"Hey! You said you were done!" Ruby piped up.

Yang and Ruby bickered a little more. But it was in a light hearted way, somehow, as if each girl knew what the outcome of the argument would end up being but wanted to drag it out just for the sake if it. Weiss just sat on the floor. This was it huh? Even with Ruby defending her, she was sure Yang wouldn't want Ruby hanging around her anymore. Weiss didn't know Yang too well, but.. She thought of her own sister, Winter. If Weiss had started seeing and wanting to date some, some supposed criminal, there's no way Winter would stand for that! That was what it meant to be a big sister, protecting the little one from their own stupid decisions. And Yang was Ruby's big sister. She would definitely think like Winter. They were practically the same person.

And besides, Ruby would be better off without her, if Weiss was going to face off with assassins and kidnappers thinking she had her family's fortune. Dragon or not, Ruby somehow seemed so fragile while in human form. And surely, Yang could protect her better then Weiss ever could. She was her big sister, and a dragon! Those two things combined already made her the most qualified person for the job.

Weiss looked around the room. Her pack was sitting by the door, ready to be picked up and left with at a moments notice. And her sword was next to it, Yang had brought it back thankfully. All she had to do, was grab the pack and sword, and just disappear. She hugged her knees tightly. She didn't really want to leave. Ruby calmed her down, and she felt comfortable around her. Weiss had originally regarded Ruby as a responsibility or obligation, like one would think of taking care of a dog they didn't like. But she'd begun to see past that, and had genuinely started enjoying the time they spent together while trekking through the woods and wandering about the town. But, there was no going against a golden dragon. She needed an excuse to leave.

"I need to use the toilet, can I leave for a bit..?" Weiss spoke up.

"You don't need to ask permission." Ruby waved a hand nonchalantly. Weiss calmly walked to the door, silently picked up her pack and sword, and left without a word. "Bye." She said softly, as soon as the door had closed. She shook her head and slapped her cheeks, psyching herself up. She was going to have to be quick about this, leaving and such. Yang would stop Ruby from following her, she was sure. Just like Winter would have. And then Weiss would be alone again. Alone again, naturally.

Weiss went to the restrooms to change first, as she was in her nightwear. She wondered who'd dressed her. Surely Yang or Blake wouldn't have? But Weiss wasn't even sure if Ruby could manage to get her OWN clothes off without ripping them anymore. She remembered the first time Ruby had tried to take off her dress to wash it herself. Uhg. That'd been a nightmare. Luckily, Weiss had brought a small sewing kit along with her on her journey. You could never be too prepared... So who was it then? While changing, Weiss blushed heavily to herself as she realized she was wearing clean fresh underwear. "Dolt..!" She hissed under her breath as she buried her face in her hands and stewed in self embarrassment for a few moments.

Leaving the inn was fine. She walked out without a problem, and began her trek to the gates. She passed a familiar store on her way, that gave her a crushing sense of guilt. That one store, with the red cloak perfect for Ruby. Weiss checked how much money she had. She could buy it...

Weiss went into the store, eyeing the cloak. The store owner called out to her. "Hey there missy, lookin to buy something?"

"No, I.. um.." Weiss stared at the cloak. She wasn't going to see Ruby again, so why buy it? It would just be a reminder that Weiss had to leave the first friend she'd ever made outside her family. But, maybe she could buy it and sell it somewhere else.. Or she could turn it into a scarf, a red scarf for when it got colder? But she could just but an already made scarf for that.. She tried to rationalize buying it, and eventually settled on the reasoning of 'because father wouldn't want me to buy something this color'. It had taken her years to figure out how to incorporate red into her outfit back home, and even then it was barely there under her dresses collar. She'd didn't want to admit it to Ruby, but she really loved the red color of her dragon scales. This cloak reminded her of them.

After purchasing the cloak and leaving the store, that was when Weiss came back to her senses. Why? Why had she done that? She'd have no use for it! And it was hard enough to carry around what little she had in her pack as it was! Weiss pushed the red cloak down into the bottom of her pack, and grumbled to herself about avoiding impulse purchases from now on.

She set off again, and had almost made it to the city gates, before she felt a hand on her shoulder. Blake. "Can you wait until I leave before you track me down and kidnap me again please?" Weiss said coldly.

It looked like that statement really bothered Blake. "I don't kidnap people. That was a one time thing. And where do you think you're going?" She asked harshly.

"Away. Like I should be." Weiss started walking again, and Blake followed. Go away... Go away...!

"So you're just leaving her?" Blake knew just what to say to jab at Weiss heart.

"She's got Yang, she doesn't need me. And I don't think Yang would want me hanging out with her sister anyways. That look in the cave was all I needed to get the message." Weiss remembered how it took less then 5 words from Blake to turn Yang's gaze towards her from a playful sisterly feeling, to someone who thought Weiss was a loaded bomb.

"Yang wouldn't say that, she isn't that kind of perso–"

"I know she looked at me like I was going to kill her sister, so yes, I think she would. And besides, I've only known her a day, I don't have much to go off of!" Weiss sped up her pace.

"I'm sorry." Blake said from behind Weiss.

Weiss stopped. "What?"

"I'm, sorry. Last night I wasn't very.. Nice." Blake shuffled her feet awkwardly. Why was she even here? "And taking your girlfriend as a hostage probably wasn't the best idea for a good first impression."

She's not my girlfriend! Weiss yelled in her head. But her lips stayed shut. What did this matter now? Weiss was still leaving. "So you're NOT going to kidnap me and take me back to my family." Blake nodded. "Then leave me alone." Weiss sped walked away again, yet Blake still followed.

"You don't have to leav–"

"If people like you are going to be coming after me, then that's all the more reason to get as far away from Ruby as possible. For her own sake." Weiss was almost to the gate.

Weiss could see the pain in Blake's eyes, as if she were watching someone make a mistake she had made in her past and knew how to help them avoid, if they'd just listen. It was as if she was trying to transmit the phrase 'please don't make the same mistake I did' Directly into Weiss's brain. But Blake couldn't do that. Weiss knew exactly how telepethy felt from Ruby using on her when she was in dragon form. A second later, that pain was replaced with determination. "No!" Blake yelled at her. "I'm not letting you do that!" She grabbed Weiss's arm and pulled.

Why did she care?! just go away! "Back off!" Weiss flailed her arms, her finger accidentally catching Blake's bow and pulling it off. Pulling it off to reveal, a pair of cat ears. Blake was a faunus?! Blake hurriedly redid her bow, looking around to make sure no one had seen. She met eyes with Weiss, and her expression went blank.

"You saw."


	10. Princess of misunderstandings

**WARNING: this chapter has like uh ok imagine a party popper filled with bloody organs exploding? Yeah. Only for like a paragraph or two tho. Probably won't happen again.**

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 ***Authors note:(for those who haven't seen rwby. I know there's at least one of y'all out there): Faunus=a human person with an animal characteristic. Including but not limited too, cat ears, a monkey tail, the ability to change the color of your skin because chameleon, cat feet, fox ears, fox tail, antlers or horns, a mermaid tail instead of legs, Satar legs, bunny ears, scales in random places and sharp teeth, ect... As far as I am aware, no cases of having both animal ears and a tail at the same time exist in Rwby as of volume 6. Its either one or the other. But don't me on that honestly idfk.**

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A *faunus? Now it made sense why Blake had hated her so much on their first meeting.. Her, Weiss, the daughter of the kingdom that had more underground faunus slavery then even mistral! Of course a faunus girl would immediately hate Weiss on sight if she knew who Weiss was. And if Yang knew Blake was a faunus, it would make sense why she suddenly went into attack mode. The Schnee family was famous for their unorthodox treatment of their 'workers' in the underground, Weiss knew.

"You saw." Blake said. Not as a question, more just a tense observation.

Weiss had seen. And was now, very conflicted. Her mind started to wander. Weiss hadn't always been so 'accepting' of the faunus race. In fact, she could say she'd been like her father at one point. Having been raised in such a way that portrayed the faunus to her as no more then dirty criminals, it was to be expected she thought like that once, but something that happened had changed her view on the subject, years ago.

When she was around 14, Weiss didn't have much she liked doing besides training with her sword. She was useless at summoning, and was even beginning to dislike singing since her father only allowed her to preform what he thought was suitable at their castles parties. Weiss found that from a certain point on the inner castle wall, if she used a pair of opera viewing binoculars Winter had given her, she could see into the town marketplace. Such a dirty and commoner riddled place didn't interst her in the slightest..! But, with nothing else to do, she observed them. One girl in particular, she became fond of.

The girl would go to the market and sing for money. Weiss could never hear her voice, but depending on where the girl stood, Weiss could try to read her lips. A few times she read the girl singing some of Weiss's original songs. That made her so happy. Thinking back on it, Weiss realized that that time in her life may have been the start of her beginning to think she might like girls. But sadly, Weiss never got to speak to that girl.

After months of watching and looking for the singing girl in particular to watch every day, something awful happened. The girl was tripped by someone walking by. Not such a bad thing, but when she tripped, her hat fell off. The hat that Weiss had never seen her without. And under that hat, were a pair of horns. She was a faunus.

Some places were fine with faunus. Even in atlas, a faunus could go to the school that trained knights, and graduate top of the class if they worked hard. But that didn't mean that there weren't still many places in the world, and atlas, that despised the faunus very existence. This market was one such place, it seemed. Weiss watched in horror as the girl she'd begun growing fond of was kicked around and had rotten food thrown at her. Why? Why were they doing that, Weiss wondered? This girl had come every day and sung so sweetly for the townspeople, why did her being a faunus change that? A faunus. Faunus were bad. Were they? This girl didn't seem so bad? She wasn't even fighting back..

Weiss felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. The girl couldn't fight back. If she did, the nearbye guards Weiss could see watching would arrest her, and have her work in the mines until she died. Weren't they supposed to protect the people?! They were just.. Watching. Smiling. Smiling, like Weiss could recall her father smiling sometimes. It made her sick.

Weiss tried to find her again for the next few weeks, but she never saw that girl in the market again. And suddenly, watching the townspeople just wasn't as fun as it had once been. She stopped doing it. Maybe, it wasn't the faunus that were bad.. Maybe it was her. And her father. People that hated them just because they were, there. The emotional stress of the thought weighed Weiss down heavily.

At one point, Weiss had the idea to go down to the dungeons and see the faunus prisoners for herself. Surely, they were all mean looking ragged beasts. Those were the only kind her family enslaved, right? Weiss opened a door, and was greeted with the sight of a boy no older then she was, screaming, as he was given an iron branding across his eye. Weiss couldn't remember what happened after that, but the next thing she knew, she was in her bed, winded and shivering. What had she done to deserve the life she had? Other then be born lucky? If that girl in the market and her, had switched places and species at birth, nothing would be amis in the world. The though scared her.

Weiss made a conscious effort from that point on, not to be discriminatory. Remember their circumstances, they have a reason for what they do. But even so, just because SHE was now trying to be better, didn't mean that others knew that. Others, like Blake for instance. What could she say? Nothing that came out of Weiss's mouth could fix whatever Blake had gone through to have to hide her ears like that. She needed to leave. Now. It must have been torture to Blake to try and talk kindly to someone from the Schnee family. Weiss wanted to crawl onto a hole and DIE. God, she was already emotionaly broken enough just trying to leave Ruby, she didn't need her past rasicm reminded to her at the moment. Weiss started coming back to her senses. Just be firm. Be firm and go.

"I'm sorry." Weiss bowed, but held her ground. "I still need to leave. I can understand why you hate me now, and you're right to. Goodbye." Weiss turned and left again, half expecting Blake to follow her and try to stop her some more. But Blake stayed standing, watching Weiss go. Weiss was almost sad, perhaps she'd wanted Blake to convince her to stay. Perhaps. But, this was for the best.

Weiss made it Out of the city with ease. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but she couldn't get rid of the lump in her throat. She avoided the dark forest, and stuck to the path merchants and travelers used to travel. It would be safer, she was in no condition to have to a fight with a shadow wolf. Perhaps she could hitch a ride on some merchants cart if one passed her going the same way.

As she walked, It got dark. Night had come, and Ruby hadn't gone after her. Obviously! Obviously she wouldn't! Weiss wasn't expecting her to! Yang, like any good big sister, would keep her younger sister safe, and not let her go after faunus enslaving racist rich peoples daughters! When it got to dark to continue traveling, Weiss curled up on the side of the road hidden in a bush to sleep, using the red cloak she'd bought earlier as an extra blanket. Huh, it had come in handy, hadn't it? She wished Ruby was there. Ruby was so much warmer then an extra cloak. Within minuets, Weiss slept.

She had a weird dream that night. Weiss was a silver fox, and Ruby was 5 inches tall. Ruby rode on her back, and fed her berries. They gallivanted about a beautiful forest in the dawn, the crisp morning air making Weiss feel as if she could fly. They stopped at a clearing with a lake shrouded by mist in the middle, and little Ruby hopped off Weiss to go for a swim. Weiss, still a fox, stayed on the shore and watched her. She saw a shadow in the water. It started advancing on Ruby's position, but Ruby didn't notice. Weiss tried to warn her, but what could she do? She yipped and barked, but no human words came out of her mouth. Ruby turned and waved at her with a smile, just before a huge white fish jumped out of the water and swallowed her whole.

A golden eagle flew above the water, cawing for the fish to come back. It couldn't dive deep enough into the water to get to the fish. And the fish just swam ever deeper. A black cat watched silently from the forests edge. Weiss gathered her courage, and dove into the water. Sound was muffled, but she could see the fish clearly. It saw her as well, and tried to gobble her up, but she took a swipe at its eye. The fish glared at Weiss. The white fish, with a scar on its eye. It looked so much like Weiss in that instant.

Weiss needed to breath, but if she swam back up to the surface, she'd never get Ruby back. Her heart was thumping so loudly she could hear it. Weiss scratched at the fish again, and it spit Ruby out. Ruby sank. Weiss tried to swim deeper, to save her, but it seemed that the more Weiss struggled, the faster Ruby sank into the darkness. Weiss wasn't a fox any more, she was herself again, but still in the water reaching out to Ruby. Did Ruby return to normal size as well? Or was she really that far away? Ruby sank ever deeper, and Weiss's heart beat so loud it was deafening. Thump thump thump, thump thump thump, thump thump thump. Why was it so loud?

Weiss's eyes shot open, and the sounds didn't stop. That wasn't a heartbeat. That was something running. Something running, straight for her! A second later, some huge animal came crashing through the brush straight towards her. Weiss sprung up, and darted back at least 10 feet. She couldn't believe her eyes. A shadow bear? Why would a shadow bear come this far away from the forest?! The large lumbering shape was most definitely a shadow bear, its red eyes gleamed and they marked Weiss as their prey. Wolves she could do, but Weiss had never taken down a bear! She didn't even know where to stab to GET the bears heart! Well, she knew the general area, but with a creature this big she'd get one shot at best. She didn't even have time to mull over her weird cryptic dream, Weiss had to get out of the area immediately.

Weiss tried to run away, but quickly realized that wouldn't work, as she had to dodge a tackle almost ten seconds after starting to run. The sun was starting to rise. The shadow bear roared, swiping at Weiss frantically. Why was it after her? Why did ...wait. Oh. OH. YESTERDAY. Yesterday when fighting the wolves, Weiss had almost run into a shadow bear! If one caught your sent, it would track you for life! Weiss thought she'd avoided it, but, it must have smelled her before she'd gotten away. Oh nooo! She had to kill this thing NOW, or she'd be hunted forever!

"Bears, kidnappers, whats next huh?! Pigs going to start falling from the sky?!" Weiss yelled in frustration as she dodged some more swipes.

And right after she yelled that, a pig did indeed fall out of the sky at the bear. After smacking the bear, the terrified wild pig squealed loudly and ran off. The bear was knocked back, but both Weiss and the bear were equally confused. A pig. Had fallen from the sky? Weiss looked up, but nothing was above them. Now that she thought about it, it was more like the pig was thrown...

 _"...eiss..!"_ Weiss heard a voice in the distance. Could it be.. "Weiss!" Ruby?

Ruby shot herself in speed form like a bullet at the bear, going straight through its chest and spraying a splatter of blood, organs, and viscera out of it like someone had pulled a party popper. The bear was dead, and Weiss covered her mouth so she wouldn't puke. The scene was horrific. A blood soaked Ruby popped up from a pile of something squishy and red, and tackled Weiss.

"Weiss! Don't leave me! I'm sorry I won't do anything bad again!" Ruby squeezed Weiss tightly while she tried not to gag.

"What the _HELL_ are you doing?!" Weiss screamed, trying to push Ruby off her. Ewwww now it was getting on Weiss too! _"Get off!"_

Ruby gazed at Weiss with puppy dog eyes. "I, I'm helping! The bear! I got it!" Ruby frantically tried to explain as Weiss tried to wriggle out of her grasp.

Weiss felt her stomach gurgling, and covered her mouth again to hold it down. "You are FILTHY." She said Angrily. Ruby's eyes were beginning to loose their sparkle as Weiss spoke. "Where's a river?! I can't stand this smell!" Weiss gaged and then glared at Ruby. "I know you love the color red but PLEASE never do anything like that again!" Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement.

"So I can stay? You won't leave? You promise?" Ruby bombarded Weiss with questions, but then let her go and looked away guiltily. "If, you really want me to go away that's fine.. But, tell me first. Please don't just disappear." Ruby whined softly.

Weiss felt a thousand knives jabbing her heart. She hugged Ruby despite the squishy sound it made from her blood soaked clothes, and looked into her eyes.

"You didn't do anything bad.. And I don't want you to leave." Weiss mumbled. She looked away. "I just don't think your sister would want you around someone like me."

Ruby shook her head frantically "What? No! We talked about it while you were sleeping! She said its fi–"

"WOAH!" a voice yelled. It appeared that Yang and Blake had also been following Weiss with Ruby, and had just come across the shadow bears untimely demise. Oh god Blake was here too? Whyyyyy

"I think I'm gonna be sick.." Yang put a hand over her mouth and looked away, while Blake just didn't look at all. Blake was pretending that the scene before her didn't exist. A fair tactic.

"Yeah just thank the HUMAN CANON BALL!" Weiss yelled. A similar reaction to the bear scene was made when Blake and Yang saw Weiss and Ruby. Ruby was red, head to toe. And Weiss had splotchy stains all over from Ruby's hugs. "Do you know if there's a river nearby..?" Yang and Blake ran over to Ruby. Yang punched Weiss in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"I'd punch you harder if you weren't covered in bear guts!" Yang barked.

"Why'd you punch me in the fist place?!" Weiss screeched back.

"You left!"

"Yeah because you wanted me to?" Weiss made an angry exaggerated shrug. "I got that pretty clearly from you in the cave!"

"What?! That was, just spur of the moment!"

"Spur of the moment hatred that strong?!"

"Yes!"

"Its because I'm a princess of Atlas right?! And a 'Faunus enslaver'! That's fine! I don't care if you hate me just go away! Leave me alone!" Weiss turned away from them all and folded her arms. Why was she telling them to go away? Ahgg.. And she'd jut gotten back together with Ruby again.

Yang was silent a moment. "So. You left because you think I don't like you?"

"Not think, know. And because if people are going to come after me, its better I don't have anyone I care about around me." Weiss grumbled, glancing at Ruby.

Yang saw Weiss look at Ruby. Her expression softened, and she hugged Weiss from behind. Weiss tensed up, expecting a body throw or something. But all she received was a warm hug from an older sister figure. She really did miss Winter... "You called Ruby a dolt, but you're FAR more dolty, Weiss." Yang sighed. "Even if I didn't like you, you shouldn't let that stop you from hanging around Ruby if both you and her want to be together." She bonked Weiss's head. "Sorry, about last night."

"Why are you _both_ apologizing..?" Weiss grumbled, feigning discomfort despite how much she was liking Yang's hug. She felt so guilty for just _existing_ around Blake right now. Ruby nidged over, and jumped in and hugged both Weiss and Yang, earning gags from both of them from the wetness of blood.

"Told you she wasn't like that." Blake raised an eyebrow at Weiss.

"Huh? Like what?" Yang turned her head to Blake.

"She thought that you'd ban Ruby from seeing her." Blake sighed, remembering something that made her want to punch her past self. "It was like looking into a mirror."

"Any big sister would want to keep their little sister safe from bad people.. Mine would." Weiss said into Rubys shoulder.

"So you're a bad person?" Blake flicked Weiss's forehead. "A bad person would have killed me on the spot yesterday, no?" What did she mean? When her bow had come off?

Yang squeezed tighter. "I'm not your sister Weiss, I'm a different person. Everyone has different ways of protecting the people they love." Yang paused. "And a bad person wouldn't have given Ruby a bath after first seeing her turn into a human." Yang shook her head. "She must have been filthy." Oh. Ruby had told them about that? ...how long did they talk while she was unconscious..?

"Hey!" Ruby whined, her cheeks tinting red a little. Hm? Was that a blush? Weiss had, never seen Ruby blush before. It was.. cute~.

"I'll admit we jumped the gun a little. You've got so many bad rumors about you, Weiss Schnee. Or should I say, White Sneeze?" Yang choked on her own laughter. "God that is the WORST fake name I have ever heard in my entire life..!" Ah that's right, Yang had rummaged though Weiss's stuff earlier.

Blake nodded "All those rumors aren't you. They're your father, or the kingdom. And from what Ruby told us and the way you've acted so far, it seems we were mistaken in judging you so quick.."

Ruby hugged Weiss tighter, and saw Blake standing awkwardly off to the side. Yang smiled and motioned for Blake to come over. Blake also begrudgingly partook In the bear blood soaked hug. Weiss was able to keep herself from breaking down into tears, but just barely. Was this what it felt like to have friends? Weiss relaxed her muscles, relishing in the human (or 'dragon and faunus') warmth surrounding her.

It was a nice feeling.

"We'll try to get to know you at least a little before deciding weather or not we hate you." Blake said in an amused voice.

"We?" Weiss asked.

"We~" Yang chirped. "Me and Blake'll walk with you to the next town. And even when we separate, we'll periodically show up to check on you both! I'll wanna know if I get any nieces or nephews!"

Weiss just about fainted at the implication Yang had made, she was barely able to get her next sentence out. "We're? Girls?"

Yang leaned in close and whispered into Weiss's ear "You don't know how dragon biology works~" Yang ended the group hug, and told them she'd lead them to a river.

Hah. Hahahah. Yang was just teasing her. Surly, there was no way.. Uh.. Weiss glanced at Ruby, and slapped her cheeks to rid herself of any impure thoughts for the moment. It had to be a joke. ...Right?

Weiss went to collect her pack, as it was still in the bush. Ah. The red cloak. She stuffed it down to the bottom of her pack once again. She was definitely going to give it to Ruby, at some point.. Not now! It was to soon, but, maybe tomorrow! Ruby walked next to her as they started off towards the nearest river. Yeah. Weiss smiled to herself. Tomorrow. Blood soaked and tired as she was, Weiss thought it was nice that the three girls had come for her. She felt a surge of pride. She'd made friends. And not one of them was human. Heh, take THAT father!

Weiss walked next to Ruby, but Ruby wouldn't look at her. Ruby? Weiss tried to get a good look at her face. Ruby smiled and tried to brush any concerns Weiss had away. No, somthing was wrong.. Ruby looked scared. Scared? Of what? She'd just K.O.'d a shadow bear! "Are you alright?" Weiss asked softly. Ruby nodded, smiling. There was somthing dark under her smile. Dark and scared. Weiss wasn't sure, but she swore that when Ruby turned her head, Weiss could see her mouth the words 'please dont leave again'.

The suden realization that she was the cause of Rubys fragile state stabbed Weiss in the heart, harder then any Sword ever could have.


	11. Observations and revelations

It had been 2 days, 2 more days of walking hell since Weiss had been jumped by Ruby and company, and the three had decided to follow Weiss to the next town. She was beginning to get a better read on Yang and Blake's personalities. Blake was how she imagined after meeting her once, silent and sharp. But she seemed to have a soft side that came out around Yang, especially when they sat next to each other, Blake would nuzzle into her. Yang on the other hand, was NOT what Weiss had envisioned.

Unlike Weiss had previously assumed, Yang was nothing at all like her sister Winter. Winter was calm, cool, collected, and very strict about most everything. Yang seemed to be her exact opposite, in fact. She was so vocal about her love for her little sister Ruby, and so touchy. She'd randomly hug Ruby, and almost always touch the other person's shoulder when having a conversation. For Blake too, Yang would lean against her or absentmindedly rest her hand on Blake's knee when they were sitting next to each other. Physical affection. Something Weiss wasn't too used to.

Because Weiss was aware of how Yang was acting, she noticed it in Ruby now to. Slight mimicry, just as how Yang would absentmindedly touch Blake to confirm her existence, Ruby did the same to Weiss. The first few times scared Weiss, making her jolt. But Ruby often did it without realizing, so Weiss was slowly becoming used to the small love touches. Almost looking forward to them.

They were taking a break on the side of the road from walking, and Ruby was watching the clouds while sitting next to Weiss on a log. She placed her hand on Weiss's upper thigh. It rested there calmly, and while Weiss was hardly aware of it being there, she took comfort in its presence rather than fearing it.

Ruby realized what she was doing, and stole her hand away. "Sorry! Ah, I'm trying to stop doing that." Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. She was acting more and more human with each passing day.

"It's fine." Weiss said, gazing at the clouds.

"No I'm, I'm gonna stop, it'll just take a little to get it to be a habit of stopping–" Ruby started rambling.

Weiss glanced over to her. "Really, it's fine."

Ruby pursed her lips and looked at Weiss. "I don't wanna pressure you into anything.." She pouted. So cute!

Weiss looked away to hide her obvious glee at Ruby's cuteness. "Its, actually something I want to get used to. Being touched by another person and feeling something other than fear."

"Fear?" Ruby tilted her head. She put a hand to her chin, mulling over Weiss's words. Her mood dropped. "I'm sorry, I'll try not to hurt you anym–"

"Ruby, it's not hurting me. You've never hurt me." Weiss felt a stab of guilt. No matter how many times Weiss told Ruby that it wasn't her fault that she had tried to leave, Ruby seemed insistent on blaming herself.

Ruby put her hands in her lap. "Your eye."

Weiss scoffed. Her eye? She hadn't even felt that! It was when she was sleeping! She'd rather have a scar on her eye, then have been DEAD. Which is what she would have been if Ruby had just let her fall off that cliff back when they first met. didn't she tell Ruby she liked the scar a few days ago? Did she forget that? How could she stop Ruby from being so, melancholic? She wasn't sure. And the fact that she wasn't sure how to fix the situation was killing her. She needed to get away for a little while. Weiss stood and left, stalking off towards a shady spot in the trees. Ruby stayed on the log.

Weiss felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. Blake? "I need to talk with you." Blake said, before dragging Weiss off into the forest away from the others.

"H-hey!" Weiss stumbled as she tried to speak, almost tripping. Blake stopped, and squeezed both Weiss's shoulders, staring her dead in the eye.

"I hate you." She said in monotone. ...oh. Well, Weiss expected that. But she wasn't expecting it to be that blunt, considering how they'd all come after her a few days ago. "I hate you–" Blake said again, and paused. "–because you are literally me."

Huh?

Blake covered her face with one hand and peered through her fingers to glare at the bewildered Weiss. "Long story short, before me and Yang were officially 'together' I kind of, left her. When I shouldn't have. It tore a rift between us, that took a long time and a lot of effort to fix. And it still isn't perfect.." Blake rubbed her hand over her bow self consciously. "And looking at you and Ruby is like looking into a mirror!" Blake complained. Weiss was still trying to process the 'I hate you because you're me' part of the conversation, but Blake continued on. "Please. Let me give you advice." Blake said in a distressed tone.

"Are you sure, you're ok with talking to me?" Weiss asked cautiously.

Blake's bow twitched. "Hm?"

"I'm a Schnee." Weiss didn't sugar coat it.

Blake closed her eyes. "Oh. You're still on about that." She turned away from Weiss and sighed. "You ran away from your home. Didn't you?"

"Yes…"

"And that was partly because you don't agree with their practices." Blake said. "Against other people, Faunus, drago–" she stopped before finishing that last word.

"You're right, I don–" hey. Wait a second. Had she said dragon? Didn't Yang say, Blake wasn't in on the whole 'Ruby and Yang are dragons' thing? "What was that third one?"

It was Blake's turn to look uncomfortable. "...I don't know what you're talking about. I said two things."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. Did she know? "You were going to say dragon. Right?" Weiss stepped closer to Blake. "Weren't you?"

Blake didn't look Weiss in the eye and backed away. "I, uh..."

Oh my god she totally knew. And Yang thought she didn't. Weiss, had one more question for Blake... "Does Yang know you're a faunus?"

"No!" Blake almost shouted. She shook her head frantically. "She just thinks I'm, a faunus rights activist." Blake said, more quietly. "She doesn't need to know. Don't tell her!" That last part was kind of panicked.

Weiss stopped her advance and raised her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry! I won't! I wouldn't just give your secret away like that. I promise." Weiss calmed Blake down. Blake looked semi-relieved. "But..." Weiss said. "Hypothetically, if you knew someone was a dragon, and were ok with them being one, but they didn't know you knew.." Weiss glanced back the way they had came, back to where Ruby and Yang were, and then looked Blake in the eyes. She avoided Weiss's gaze.

This was, kind of hilarious. Blake knew Yang was a dragon, despite how hard Yang seemed to try and keep it a secret. And considering Yang's reaction in the cave, Yang definitely knew Blake was a faunus. Both of them knew the others deepest darkest secret, but didn't reveal it to the other in fear of.. In fear of what? Incurring the others distrust? Maybe? Weiss wasn't sure. She wasn't sure about a lot of things these days. That was never a nice feeling.

Blake had been trying to help her get along with Ruby originally, but now their conversation had sidetracked. "What if she already knows?" Weiss asked.

"What."

"That you're..." Weiss pointed to Blake's bow.

"There's no way." Blake shook her head. "She couldn't possibly know, I'm too careful."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. Yang probably thought she was being careful with her dragon secret around Blake too. "Well, you know that she's a.. D.. Dr.." Blake opened her mouth wide then mouthed 'you know too?'. Weiss nodded. "Ruby is her biological sister. Wanna guess how I met her?"

"Oh my god." Blake covered her mouth. "This is, not where I imagined our little meetup going." she put her hand to her forehead. "I'm not even sure how to react. You, Yang knows you know?"

Weiss nodded. "I mean it wasn't too hard to figure out. She is blood related to Ruby."

"OK wait wait, back on topic, YOU." Blake stepped towards Weiss. "You need to try to make up with Ruby. We'll be in the next town soon. Show her around, or something. Spend time with her. Make it less awkward." Weiss felt like she'd received a psychic punch to the gut. Oof. Yeah. She really did need to make things better. Blake took her hand and started back to where Ruby and Yang were. "Come on, they'll get worried if we're gone too long."

When they got back, Weiss saw Yang sitting next to Ruby with an arm around her back. She felt a pain in her heart, sad that she couldn't be that loving person for Ruby and sad that the situation reminded her again of her sister. Weiss felt her cheeks redden slightly. 'Loving person'. She wanted to be a 'loving person' to Ruby? What the hell did that mean?! She wasn't romantically interested in her at all! This was, just a feeling of wanting to make up with a friend! An adorable, beautiful, and loving friend! Weiss had begun to enjoy Ruby's company, but that didn't mean anything! Sure sure, maybe Weiss THOUGHT she'd had a crush for a little while, but that was obviously just her mixing up platonic and romantic feelings! … And if there were romantic feelings Weiss would crush them with her bare hands.

Yang stood and patted Ruby on the back, jogging over to meet Blake. "Hey! Where'd you two go off to?" She asked, without a hint of jealousy. Weiss was glad. She didn't want either Yang or Blake to start thinking of her as a romantic rival. They were friends. Friends. Friendship was such an odd concept to Weiss.

"Just had a talk. About how to make up with a girlfriend." Blake said nonchalantly.

Weiss felt the air in her lungs hiccup, causing a cough. "HcahKKhk! We're, We'Re NoT gIrLfRiEnDs!" She said in a panicky way, waving her hands.

"Oh? Really?" Blake looked to Yang. Yang shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't mean to assume."

"You might as well beeee~" Yang whispered in a singsong voice. Weiss felt her cheeks go red and she glared at Yang embarrassedly. The girls picked up their things again, and set off once more.

The city they came upon next, was similar to the last one. Well, similar in size at least. That was about it. This city had a more dreary vibe to it. It was as if there was a looming threat of death clouded around its walls, that was visible even from the roads approaching said city. But the city was there, so they went. Weiss wasn't heading anywhere in particular with a plan, really. She just wanted to get as far away from atlas as possible. It was a good thing she set out on one of the warmer months, otherwise there was no way she'd have been able to sleep outside without freezing. Weiss handed her ID at the gate, and had Ruby use hers as well. After Yang finished giggling about the name 'White Sneeze', she seemed audibly surprised Ruby had an ID.

"You got her one? How'd you know her last name was Rose?" Yang asked Weiss curiously.

"I just guessed. Her name really is Rose?" Weiss felt slightly proud that she'd somehow guessed Ruby's last name correctly. When Blake and Yang handed their IDs, Weiss played close attention to what the guard said for them. She was curious as to what their jobs were.

"Name, Blake Belladonna. Race, human. Hails from, the outlands. Age, 18. Occupation, Bounty hunter." The guard said, and nodded. Huh, so she really WAS a bounty hunter. And Belladonna? Weiss had heard that name before... Oh Right! It was a type of plant! Winter had warned her not to go near Belladonna, or in other words, 'deadly nightshade'. A fitting name for a bounty hunter.

The guard spoke again at receiving Yangs. "Name, Yang Xiao Long. Race, human. Hails from, the outlands. Age, 18. Occupation, fire mage." Uh what. Fire mage? Mage? Mage? Weiss looked at Yang. She didn't look anything like a mage! She looked more like a melee fighter, someone who would be a big sisterly protector, or punch you in the jaw if she saw you bullying a little kid! How on earth was she a MAGE?! Also, she didn't even have a staff!

The guard didn't look to convinced at Yang's occupation, but let them through the gates regardless. Ruby's eyes sparkled. It was only the third city she'd ever been to, Weiss supposed. "Me and Blake will get a room at an inn, you two have a look around! Buy something! Maybe, talk a bit? Meet us as the guild at around dusk! Byee~" Yang took Blake's hand and ran off, leaving Weiss reaching her hands out to stop nothing but a cloud of dust. Weiss's eye twitched. But she kept herself calm.

"There's a lot more people then the other town." Ruby observed. The dreary vibe that had surrounded the city had all but vanished now that they were inside, as crowds of people skittered by, acting like an ocean of human flesh. She scooted closer to Weiss, her hand clutching the hem of her cloak like a scared child. Weiss really needed to give Ruby that red cloak she'd bought!

Weiss took a deep breath, then put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She tried to smile to calm her down. "Do you want to go look around?"

Ruby nodded, her curiosity overpowering her shyness. Weiss led Ruby through the streets, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea. A sheltered princess with no sense of direction in cities, and a dragon that had seen less of human cities then a fruit fly. It was not an ideal traveling group. Weiss had managed out on the open road, by carefully studying maps, but here? In a crowded city? She might as well have been piece of paper floating around in the wind. Actually if she was a piece of paper maybe she'd have gotten around better.

Ruby's grip on Weiss's cloak was strong, so they didn't get separated. The hustle and bustle of the crowd eventually shoved them into an open shop. At seeing the shops contents, Ruby looked like she was about to explode from excitement.


	12. To late

It was a weapons shop. Filled with Swords, Shields, Maces, and various other weapons. Ruby let go of Weiss for the first time that day, and flitted about the products, commenting on how shiny they were or how cool they looked. It was amusing to hear her calling them the wrong names. A hammer was a ball sword. A scythe was a curved/sideways sword. An arrow was a tiny flying sword. Funny little things like that. It seemed that just about every piece of metal that could be used to hit someone was labeled some kind of 'sword' by Ruby. Weiss felt her rapier blade at her hip. Yep, her sword was the best thing for her.

What about Ruby though? While she was a dragon, in human form she was a bit soft and squishy looking. No scales to speak of. And no claws, either. Getting Ruby a sword or something might be a good idea.

"See anything you like?" The blacksmith running the shop said. He had a large black beard that looked like it could hold a few secret knives in, if he wanted to use it that way.

"We're just looking." Weiss said, gravitating back towards Ruby. Ruby look like she was in heaven. It made sense, for a dragon, Weiss supposed a store full to the brim of shiny things WOULD be very entertaining. Weiss took ahold of Ruby's sleeve, and tugged. "Hello? You in there?" She held back a smile.

It took a few seconds for Ruby to answer. "Huh?" Ruby blinked, remembering where she was. "Oh! Oh yes I'm here! I just... Its so pretty~" she gushed. "I wanna get a curved sword~" she said wistfully.

Hm. Curved sword. A scythe? Weiss made a mental note of that. "Come on, we don't want to bother him to much." Weiss said to Ruby gently.

Ruby pouted but let herself be dragged away. As the were about to leave, they heard a crash. A nail on the shelf above the blacksmith came loose, and a spiked ball and chain came falling at his head. Why did he have that hanging up there? Was all Weiss could think, before she saw a gust of rose petals next to her where Ruby had been a second before. Ruby was standing on the counter, holding the spiked ball in her bare hands, moving it away from the blacksmiths head. She dropped it a second later, on the side of the counter visible to Weiss "Owch!" She yelped.

The rose petals that had scattered about the shop settled, and Ruby whined softly. Weiss saw a bit of blood fall from Ruby's clenched fists. "Ruby! Get down from there!" Weiss barked. She rushed over and took hold of the girls hands, examining them. How was dragon healing? Did she need to bandage it? Another drop of blood fell. Yes, bandages were definitely needed, dragon or not.

"It bit me!" Ruby squeaked, tears in her eyes. Weiss had to turn away as not to laugh.

Weiss helped Ruby off the counter, and tuned to the blacksmith cautiously. "Do you have any bandages we could borrow? Or, do you know where we can get some? We're traveling, and not familiar with the area."

The blacksmith stared blankly. "Uh. Am I drunk? Or did that girl there teleport herself onto the counter to save my hide?" He started moving again, still listening, but moving about to find some bandages.

Weiss thought carefully. How odd was Ruby's power? Could Weiss explain it away by claiming Ruby was a mage? Ah, maybe that was how Yang was a mage! She used her dragon abilities, or her 'semblance' and just told everyone it was magic! Perfect, that'd be perfect. "She's, a mage! Or, trying to be one. She doesn't have a lot of common sense. Hence the spiked ball grabbing." Weiss shrugged

"I didn't know it had TEETH." Ruby interjected.

Weiss glared at her. "They're not TEETH you dolt, look at it!" She grabbed the chain and pulled the ball over. "Its spikes are sharp. Lots of tiny swords, see?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "I do see..! Oh!" Ruby looked back to her hands. "How do I make my hands stop bleeding?"

Weiss winced. "You, can't? Not really? You have to wait for them to heal naturally. It helps to wrap them up so the wound doesn't get infected. Maybe sterilize it with some alcohol."

Ruby nodded, staring at her own blood. She smiled at it. "Heheh.. Heheheh..." Um what. Why the hell was she– AH! THAT'S RIGHT! Yang said some of Ruby's emotions, and her crying reflex especially, were screwed up! ...Maybe it'd be best to leave before ruby started laughing like a maniac over the sight of her own blood. Weiss took the bandages from the confused blacksmith and went back out into the city streets. A bad idea.

People were everywhere. And because Weiss didn't have Ruby's iron grip on her cloak, she could feel her getting swept away. Weiss tried her hardest to keep close to Ruby, but she lost sight of her. Why were there so many people?! She soon found out. All the crowds were headed to one place in particular. the center of town, where a man with a booming voice boasted about how he had 'fought with a dragon' and lived to tell the tail.

Weiss put her hood over her head. She didn't want any unnecessary attention, or possible recognition, if this guy really was such a big shot. Uhg. Royalty's were such a hassle. She ignored the irony of her thoughts, and looked over the sea of people for Ruby. She spotted her, neat the front. Weiss almost swam through the crowd to get to her.

"–volunteer! Anyone up for the challenge? Ah! How about you, little girl?" Weiss heard the guy say as she got close. She saw the man on the platform take Ruby's hand and pull her up. He yelped and shook his hand when he let her hand go. "Oh what?! Are you bleeding?"

"Yes, I, touched a ball of tiny swords!"

"...tiny swords?"

"Tiny swords! It was a ball, with tiny swords, and then a line of more metal connecting it to a stick!" Ruby told him enthusiastically.

"Do you mean a spiked ball and chain."

"Yes that." Ruby nodded, her hands dripping blood.

Weiss finally made it to the edge of the stage. "Ruby!" She hissed in a whisper.

Ruby looked down. "Oh! Hi We–"

"SHHHHHH!" Weiss hissed. The last thing Weiss needed was her name to be broadcast to this crowd. She held out the bandages and motioned for Ruby to follow. Ruby jumped. "Wait no–!" Weiss yelled before Ruby landed on Weiss, knocking the wind out of her and making her collapse under the surprise attack. Weiss sat up, truing to regain her breath, her hood having fallen off. She took hold of Ruby's hands and immediately started wrapping them in bandages. "I swear you're worse then a toddler sometimes!" she scolded.

Ruby pouted. "I didn't know it had tiny swords..!"

"That's not–" Weiss finished tying up each of Ruby's hands "–what I was referring to."

Weiss tried to leave the area, but Ruby pulled her back. "Can we see what he's talking about?" She gave Weiss puppy dog eyes.

The man had continued his tale after Ruby jumped off stage, or the temporary wooden platform that had been set up in the middle of the town square, and seemed to have dropped the idea of getting a volunteer after his first attempt ended up being some weird girl with bloody hands. He claimed he had fought a dragon. A feat anyone would be inclined to hear about. But how truthful were his words? "Unfortunately, I was unable to slay the beast. But! I managed to snag THIS off its hide!" He held up a golden yellow dragon scale, which glittered in the sunlight. The crowd ooed.

And Ruby stared. She had an unreadable expression on her face, and she mubled under her breath. "...Thats Yang's scale." Ruby turned and looked at Weiss, bewildered. "Weiss, that's Yang's scale!" Ruby looled close to panicking. Why? Was it such a big deal that someone had one of Yang's scales?

"Ruby, calm down. Is that bad?" Weiss asked.

"Well no, but actually yes." Ruby bit her bottom lip. "It'll glow if she gets near it. Normally it'd be fine for him to have it, but we're in the same city.."

Weiss nodded. "Ok, we'll tell her. It'll be alright." Weiss took hold of Rubys arm, and pulled her against the flow of the crowd. She noticed a nearbye scraggly old man with one eye covered by an eyepatch watching her as she left, but quickly forgot about it. The two girls were able to find a safe place away from the crowd, more calm and quiet. The whole city wasn't filled to the brim with people, its just that near the main gate there was a crowd going to see the dragon slayers tale at the town square.

Weiss and Ruby sat together on a bench. Ruby looked sad. Weiss could almost see a blue aura surrounding her. It didn't feel right to see Ruby so glum. She was obviously worried about he sister, and the state of her hands must've troubled her as well. Ah. Her hands. "Here, let me redo the bandages. I was in a hurry back there, they're kind of loose." Weiss undid the bandages on Ruby's hands and... Nothing. Nothing? No cut, no scar, no scrapes or anything whatsoever! The bandages were covered with blood, but Ruby's hands were perfectly normal.

"You were right Weiss, they did heal!" Ruby smiled happily.

What? How did that happen? Weiss supposed that dragons may have had increased healing or something, but even so it had been less then half and hour since Ruby had been injured! Weiss poked and prodded one of Ruby's hands, examining every inch of it. It really was completely fine. Weiss felt a bout of jealousy wash over her for a moment. Her foot was mostly alright now, but it had taken days to heal, even with a healing potion. Ruby must have had some stupidly good immune system or something, Weiss thought. Maybe eating a lot of those miracle heal fruits, the 'peachys', had given her a higher healing rate? Or perhaps, it really was just that dragons healed fast.

Whatever it was, after Weiss pushed aside her jealous thoughts, she was glad Ruby was feeling better. It was nice. Both her and Ruby were happy and calm, now would be a perfect time to.. "Hey Ruby..." Weiss tried hard to keep down a smile. Ruby hummed softly to acknowledge Weiss's question as she gazed happily at her healed hands. "I have something for you, close your eyes." Weiss pulled over her pack, which was sitting about a foot away from her, as she'd set it down when they'd sat on the bench. She reached in and pulled out the red cloak she'd had stuffed in the bottom the last few days. She put it in Ruby's lap.

Ruby opened her eyes, and stared curiously. She picked it up and held it out, letting the mounds of cloth flow from her hands. Red. So much red. Just that alone was making Ruby's happy, but then she realized she could WEAR it. "When did you..?" Ruby asked as her lips curled into a smile.

Weiss covered her mouth and looked aside. "When I was leaving, I saw it in a shop. I was already planning on getting it before I wanted to leave, but, I knew if I left without getting it I'd never see it again." Weiss stole a glance at Ruby to see if she looked any happier. "Now do you believe I'm not mad at you?"

Ruby didn't even hear her, she had a wide grin on her face, her cheeks flushed red. She pulled the cloak close, and buried her face in it, inhaling its smell. She peeked her eyes out from under it, still red face and smiling. "It smells like you~" She sung softly. Weiss couldn't stop her on cheeks from matching Ruby's now, and screamed internally as she leaned over and gently hit Ruby on the shoulder to hide her embarrassment. Ruby laughed. "Thank you Weiss~" Ruby sung sweetly.

She stood up and put the cloak on, her eyes sparking. She twirled in place, then hugged it tightly around herself. It was adorable. And Weiss was definitely having a gay panic™ moment.

She'd given her the cloak, and Ruby liked it~! Any thoughts about worrying over Yang's scale situation was banished from both girls minds, as they relished in the peace giving a gift had graced them with. Weiss was still blushing over Ruby saying 'it smells like you'. It made sense, she had used it as a blanket one night. But still. Did Ruby like her smell? How did she smell? Did she need a bath? Weiss suddenly felt very self conscious over her 'smell'. She didn't THINK she smelled bad. But then again, her nose wasn't as good as a dragons. Do I ne"ed a bath?" Weiss wondered, half out loud.

Ruby pranced over to Weiss, and sat next to her, snuggling into her side. "If you take a bath, I want one to!" She chirped. She nuzzled her face against Weiss's neck and shoulder, breathing deeply. Smelling her? "I love your smell~" Ruby mumbled softly.

Weiss nearly imploded on the spot, her face beet red. Rather striking against her white hair, and noticeable from almost a mile away. It tickled, having Ruby nuzzle her like that. But a pleasant tickle. "Hah.." Weiss tried to speak, but couldn't get any words out. Maybe for now, it was best to just sit there and rest up. It was certainly more comfy that way. Weiss moved one of her arms, and put it around Ruby. Ruby reached up and gently held the hand of Weiss's that was on her shoulder.

Weiss's head was completely blank, she wasn't aware of any of her surroundings, all that existed in the world was Ruby. Ruby sitting next to her, leaning against her, holding her hand, so warm. So very, very warm.

'You can't love her!' One side of Weiss's brain scolded her. 'It'll just be even more painful when some assassin sent to get you kills her!' Weiss glanced over at Ruby, feeling her heart swell over the girl. Ah, it was already too late. There was no way this could be anything but love, despite Weiss's best attempts to keep her feelings platonic. Weiss hugged Ruby with the arm she'd put around her tightly. She never wanted to let go.


	13. THINK before you ACT

Weiss and Ruby had sat on that bench for a while. Eventually, Ruby got ancy enough to move, and Weiss followed. They needed to go to the guild at some point, so Weiss suggested going there now, as she'd regained the ability to think clearly and speak after walking a few minuets.

"I need to register there, and I was thinking of registering you too. If you wanted to try going on a quest with me." Weiss said as they walked.

Ruby's eyes sparkled. "Yes! A thousand times yes!" She was practically bouncing in place. Weiss smiled softly.

They reached the guild, and the aura of dread that had lingered about outside the city returned. The guild in the last city had battle hardened warriors, but the people here just looked like they were about to go on a death march.

Weiss didn't have her hood up this time as she approached the front desk, so no one approached her thinking she'd kidnapped ruby or something. It was indeed less concerning to see two girls walking together, then to see one girl being dragged around by some hooded figure. Which is what Weiss assumed people had thought of her last time. She handed over her ID to register. "Yours too Ruby." Weiss held out a hand.

"Right!" Ruby fished around in the little brown dresses pocket, and pulled out her ID. A stick fell out of her pocket as well. It looked like the kind of stick you'd put a street food on. Ruby scooped it up quick as lightning, so fast Weiss wondered if it had even been there in the first place. But Ruby's shifty glance told her it had. Interesting..

Weiss and Ruby sat at one of the tables in the guild, as they waited for their cards to be verified. Weiss spoke up. "Ruby? What was that stick that fell out of your pocket earlier?"

Ruby looked away from Weiss. "...esure."

"Its what?" Weiss couldn't quite hear Ruby.

"It's my treasure!" Ruby yipped.

Treasure? A stick? "Why?" Weiss wondered.

Ruby pulled it our of her pocket and showed Weiss. "Look. Its from the apple. That you got me." Ruby pulled it back and held it close to her heart,her cheeks flushed a little. "Its the first thing you gave me~"

Oh. Weiss rubbed the back of her head and looked to the side. Normally, she'd scold Ruby and tell her to throw something like that away, but, she seemed attached to it.. So it probably wasn't to much trouble to let her hang onto it. That caramel apple really had been the first thing she'd given Ruby. Weiss recalled telling Ruby that she was only letting her use the brown dress since there was nothing else around. Quite the tsundere she'd been playing, she thought as she winced at her past actions. They really needed to get ruby a proper outfit.

Weiss thought a for a few moments. A little while ago, she'd finally confirmed that she felt romantic affection towards Ruby. But what now? It was clear as day that Ruby loved her, she'd even admitted to her sister that she wanted to claim Weiss as her girlfriend. So, was Weiss just supposed to tell Ruby she felt the same now? Weiss remembered back to when Ruby had accidentally pinned her against the side of the bed in an inn, and asked straight up if she could kiss her. Could Weiss recreate a similar situation? Maybe?

Weiss shook her head. No, she'd implode before she was even two feet away from Ruby if she tried that. She needed some reason, or excuse for her to say it. Weiss wasn't bold enough to just tell Ruby outright for no reason. Huhh... Why was this so difficult... Was there anyone she could ask for advice on this? Maybe Yang? Oh no, GOD no, if Weiss told Yang she would run over to Ruby and tell her immediately. And say something like 'you both like each other, so its not big deal~!'. Uhhgggggg

Perhaps Blake could help. She'd already thought Weiss and Ruby were together. Maybe she'd have a tip for confessing? Confessing to someone who you'd previously told you didn't love them? Hopefully... She needed to talk to Blake anyways, she hadn't brought it up since the cave, but Weiss was still curious as to who had wanted Blake to capture her. And as to who had posed as her mother.

As Weiss contemplated her gay woes, the lady at the front desk called her and Ruby up to collect their IDs. Weiss again chose the option with the 90% death rate as opposed to being tested for a ranking. It seemed like the death rate was higher here. They still had at least half the day left, before they needed to meet Yang and Blake. They'd arrived at the city in the morning,

"Weiss? Can we go to the forest?" Ruby whispered into her ear after they go their IDs back.

"Uh, I suppose. Why?"

"I wanna change back for a bit."

Change back? To wh– oh. Oh right! It must be stifling to always be in human form! "Alright, lets go. We have to be quick though, we don't want to get locked out. They close the gates at nightfall."

Ruby smiled and skipped ahead of Weiss, like an exited puppy. They stayed close to each other in the crowd near the main gate, and left the city walls. Behind the city was a large forest. Unlike the other forests in the area, this one had massive trees. Massive enough, to tower over the walls of the city. They were easily twice as high. It was a good thing they were a little way always from the city, otherwise bandits would constantly be using them to jump the walls.

Weiss and Ruby entered, and Ruby changed. Weiss was looking the other way when she did, so it was quite a surprise to see the dragon suddenly appear next to her. "Ah!" she yelped. Ruby snorted and made a low rumbling sound, a dragons version of laughing, Weiss gathered. "Warn me next time!" Weiss huffed. Ruby poked her with her front leg playfully. Her tail wagged slightly.

Weiss felt her lips curling into a smile. "God, you're just a giant sharp puppy aren't you?" She reached out her hand and scratched under Ruby's chin.

[[That feels nice~]] Ruby said, telepathically, into Weiss head.

Weiss leaned over and hugged Ruby's neck. She just barely couldn't fit her arms all the way around it. Ruby really was an impressive dragon. Or maybe not, Weiss wouldn't know, Ruby was the only dragon shed ever seen up close. Any glimpses she'd gotten of dragons when she was younger had been of them flying away after they'd destroyed a village. She ran her hands across Ruby's scales. They were so smooth, each one shone in the sunlight peeping though the foliage and almost glowed.

[[Do you want one?]] Ruby asked

"Huh?"

[[A scale, do you want one?]] Ruby tilted her head.

"Oh, no its fine, I'm alright. Wouldn't it hurt to pull them off?" Weiss put her hands up in a 'no thanks' position.

Ruby wapped her tail against a tree. Weiss could hear startled birds flying off in the distance. In the dent the tree now had, were 3 dragon scales. Ruby went over and poked at them with her claws until they came loose. She nudged them towards Weiss. Weiss leaned over and picked them up, two of the scales were about palm sized, but one was so small it was almost no bigger then Weiss's pinky finger.

"The little one might make a nice necklace charm.." Weiss murmured out loud.

Ruby opened her mouth and snapped her jaws shut happily. [[Oh! Wait give them back! I wanna make it a necklace! If you, want me to!]] Ruby looked down at herself. Dragon. [[...give them back, when I go back to human.]]

Weiss raised an eyebrow and smiled, pocketing the small scale. "What about the other two? Would it be safe to just leave them here?" Weiss asked.

[[Oh no, I'll eat them.]] Ruby said

Uh come again? "What? Eat them?" Weiss asked, confused.

Ruby bobbed her head. [[Yeah! They're like, chalk full of magical energy or something, so it's bad to just leave them lying around. Humans can make some pretty dangerous things from our scales!]] She paused a moment. [[Also track us. That's why we've gotta get Yang's scale back from that one guy!]]

"huh.." Weiss tossed one of the bigger two scales into the air, and Ruby nabbed it, happily crunching. Weiss tossed the other a little higher, and Ruby didn't quite catch it. It bounced off her head, and a sharp jolt from Ruby caused it to fling into the bushes.

Ruby and Weiss stared in the direction the scale had gone. [[...be right back.]] Ruby said, and she waddled off. She moved so silently, how was it that something so big barely made any noise at all? Weiss leaned against a near bye tree, and sighed. Now that she was alone, she was plagued by thoughts of how to confess to Ruby again. She didn't get that far this time though, as after less then a minuet she heard a branch snap. Ah, Ruby was back.

Weiss turned, but was not greeted with Ruby. No, standing there instead was the guy from the town square. The guy who had Yang's dragon scale. Weiss drew her sword immediately and pointed it at him. "BACK." She commanded.

"Woa! Calm down, I was just approaching to ask if you were lost." He raised his hands up in a defensive position. "Are you lost?"

"No." Weiss said, lowering her sword a little, but still gripping it tight. You could never be to carful.

"I see. Can you point back to the city walls, then?" He asked.

Weiss pursed her lips. To be honest, she had no idea where she was. She had been planning on asking Ruby to get a birds eye view so they could make their way back. ... ! Ruby! Where was she? She'd gone off into the bushes to grab the last scale, but, what if she came back when this dude was still here!

The guy could see something was bothering Weiss. "You are lost, aren't you! Worry not, it isn't too far back to the city. Would you allow me to escort you?" He asked in a gentlemanly tone. "And if I may ask, what is a beautiful young lady like yourself doing out here in these woods along?"

To any other girl, such words would be interpreted as kind, or generous. But not to Weiss. He reminded her to much of the snobbish princes who had tried to win her favor with slick words and lavish gifts. Weiss mentally berated herself, angry that she was judging him based on her prejudices. But every part of her was sending off warning bells. It was unreasonable, He didn't know her! God! This was just some sweet guy trying to offer a lost girl in the forest a way back to town, not a prince trying to get with her because of her status! Stop being so judgy!

"Miss?" He asked again.

Weiss tensed up and raised her sword a bit more after being jostled from her thoughts. "No, thank you. I'm capable of taking care of myself." That wasn't going to work.. Weiss knew exactly how she looked, like some lost stubborn princess who wouldn't accept help because of her pride.

Weiss then saw Ruby out of the corner of her eye. She'd come out of the brush, looking satisfied. She must've found the scale. She was standing directly behind the guy. If he tuned around, he'd see her. "Well, if you really say so, I guess I'll leave you be.." The guy shrugged in an exaggerated manner.

"Wait!" Weiss reached out a hand to stop him, but didn't touch him. He kept his eyes on her, and faced her again.

"What was that?" He said, smiling kindly.

"I, uh.." stall, stall for time. Ruby would be smart enough to leave right? Right? "Ok, maybe I'm a little lost." Weiss wanted to punch something. She hated playing the damsel in distress. "Just a little."

The guy closed his eyes a moment and sighed in a big brotherly manner. "Its ok to admit weakness sometimes, not everyone can be perfect. Its a human fact, that–"

While he was going on about showing weakness with his eyes closed, Weiss mouthed to Ruby 'Run. Go away.' She waved her hands in a shooing motion. Ruby narrowed her eyes, and stared at the guy. She opened her wings, and got into a pouncing position. What. Whyyyyy? Just leave! The guy opened his eyes again, and saw Weiss's distressed expression at something behind him. He turned just in time to see Ruby jumping at him.

He would have screamed, if Ruby hadn't covered his mouth with one of her claws as she pinned him to the ground. He was absolutely terrified.

"Don't just pin him down! Knock him out or something!"Weiss screeched, hands tugging at her hair.

[[The scale! We've gotta grab Yang's scale!]] Ruby insisted. The guy struggled. Weiss decided not to argue, and patted him down until she found the pouch with the golden scale in it. She took it out, and Ruby snatched it from her hands, eating it. The poor guy looked ready to faint at seeing Ruby's teeth. Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, then back to the guy pinned on the floor.

...now what?


	14. Guess what? This was allll a dream

Weiss was screaming internally. How. On earth. Did Ruby think doing this was a good idea?! Weiss was currently standing next to dragon Ruby, who had some poor guy trapped under her paws. Front legs? Claws? Hands. There really was no proper way to say 'dragons front limb paws' was there?

[[Mission accomplished! We've saved Yang from dragon trackers!]] Ruby boasted proudly.

Weiss was going to tear her own face off. "Yes, we have. And now, what do we do with _HIM."_ She said through gritted teeth as she pointed at the guy.

[[... Oh yeah. I guess I didn't think that far ahead?]] Ruby turned her head away from Weiss guiltily.

Weiss covered her face and groaned. "I'm not ready to become a murdererrrrrrr...!" The guy struggled some more at hearing her say that. "Why haven't you knocked him out yet?!"

[[What? How would I even do that!? I'd probably kill him if I bopped his head! You humans are pretty fragile!]] Ruby snapped her jaws at Weiss. Weiss stood her ground and stared Ruby down.

"Fine, you're right. Just, let me talk to him for a minute. Move the claw off his mouth, ok?" Weiss asked. Ruby grumbled and looked away from Weiss again. She didn't move her claw. "Rubyyy!" Weiss scolded. "Hey! Look at me!" She walked around to face Ruby's head, but Ruby turned it the other way when Weiss came up to it. "Don't you turn your head away from me!" Weiss barked. "What's wrong?"

Ruby glanced at Weiss, and grumbled sadly. [[He was _courting_ you...]] She said sullenly.

Courting? Weiss barely even registered what Ruby was implying, but she quickly denied it. "Ruby, I don't think he was trying to–"

[[He was! I could sense it! And it's not fair for him to try and court you when I got here first!]] Ruby squawked some sort of angry sounding sound.

"Ok, ok. Well, I won't listen to him if he does it again. Ok? I want to talk to him to see if I can get him to keep quiet about YOU. Is that alright?" Weiss folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

Ruby made a low rumbling sound again, but lifted her one claw off the guys mouth. He didn't make a sound. "Hi." Weiss said. She bent down, and stared him in the eyes. She started saying whatever came to mind. "This, isn't real. You're dreaming. You got mugged in the forest and bandits stole your dragon scale. I am a figment of your imagination. Got it?" Weiss said in a slightly threatening tone. The guy opened his mouth to speak, but seemed hesitant. "Go on." Weiss encouraged.

"... Are you a legendary dragon tamer?" He asked, his voice hoarse.

"Uh. Yes. I am, in fact that. Dragon tamer. Definitely. A DREAM dragon tamer, since none of this is real." Weiss hoped that he'd buy the whole 'this is a dream' thing.

"How did you do it? Become a dragon tamer? In all the stories, the dragon tamers just appear out of nowhere and then vanish without a trace. I've always wanted... To become one..." The guy was beginning to calm down. Looked like he was starting to buy the dream thing. If this was a dream, he had no reason to be afraid, right?

Weiss looked at the sulking Ruby, and held in a laugh. "It wasn't really my choice, to be honest. It was hers." The guy nodded.

"... Are you going to kill me." He asked, more like said, in monotone.

"No. And that doesn't matter anyways, seeing how this is a dream!" Weiss was sticking with the dream thing.

The guy squinted at her. _"Is_ _it though?"_

"Yes."

 _"Is it?_ " His gaze was almost screaming the phrase 'I wasn't born yesterday you know'. Shoot. Well, this was a pickle. They really needed to convince this guy he truly was dreaming, or Ruby and Weiss would be screwed. No way the same dude that was bragging about a dragon scale to the whole CITY wouldn't talk about how he met a 'dragon tamer' in the forest. What to do, what to do...

Ruby moved her head away and rustled in a nearby bush, then returned it to above the guy, and dropped a rock the size of basketball on his forehead. He fainted immediately. "Ruby!?" Weiss yelled, jumping out of the way just in time to avoid having her foot smashed.

[[You said to knock him out! I was just doing what you said to!]] Ruby huffed, puffing out her chest like an distressed bird would. Cute...

"I suppose I did... Thanks for that." Weiss put a hand to her chin. This was a problem. The guy was knocked out, and it was almost sundown. If Ruby and Weiss just left him there, he'd be eaten alive by shadow wolves. Or, whatever shadow creatures lived in a forest this large. There were sure to be some big ones. Maybe Ruby would have an idea? "We've got to get back soon, so they don't close the gate." Weiss stared at the guy. Ahg, they hadn't even learned his NAME and they'd basically mugged him. "And if we leave him here, he will die. Ruby?" Weiss turned to Ruby. "What should we do?"

* * *

We're dead if this doesn't work." Weiss muttered under her breath.

"Sure it will! Just stay cool!" Ruby chirped. Ruby and Weiss were taking the guy they had knocked out to the gates. Ruby hand his arms, and Weiss held his legs. It was as if they were carrying a deer they'd hunted down. "Good day, sirs!" Ruby said happily as they came up to the gates.

The guard on duty looked at them, and their cargo. "Uhh..."

"We found him passed out in the woods! I think he got robbed. Its the guy who was talking about stuff in the town square earlier!" Ruby nodded to herself. Weiss had briefed her on what to say and how to say it, and she had recited her lines perfectly.

"I... See..?" The guard said slowly. He looked to Weiss, automatically considering her the more sensible of the duo due to Ruby's peppiness.

"You heard her. We thought he'd die of we just left him there, so... Can you lock him up in a cell or something till morning? Just so he won't die. I would have just left him if my conscience wasn't yelling at me so much." Weiss tried to sound convincing, but grumbled that last part. Her thoughts swirled around her head. What if this didn't work? Would they be arrested? Held until morning, where the guy would single Weiss out as someone who had robbed him? And if it did work, what then? They leave him there, but he'd still remember. What if Weiss ran into him in the city? Would it be better to pretend not to know him? No, she'd have to know OF him, since she saw him in the town square. She'd have to remember that, if they did meet up again. Remember, remember.

Luckily, the latter happened. The guard nodded, took a look at both Ruby and Weiss's IDs, and let them through. Weiss tried her best not to walk so stiffly as they went deeper into the city. As soon as they were out of sight of the gate, Weiss fell to her knees in relief. "Dear GOD that was stressful..!" She shot Ruby a quick glare. _"Never_ do anything like that again! Got it?!" Ruby shrank back a little from Weiss's anger, and nodded. Weiss groaned, and stood back up. "I'm not, I'm not mad at you. It's just.. I'm worried, ok? I don't want anything to happen to you, and, despite how 'all powerful' you really are, at times like this–" Weiss sighed as she saw Ruby tilting her head cutely in confusion. "–you seem so fragile."

Ruby poked Weiss on the arm and gave a half smile. "I could say the same to you." She hugged Weiss, burrowing her head into her neck and side ponytail. Weiss accepted the hug, and squeezed her back.

"Come on, let's go meet up with Yang and Blake." Weiss said, tugging Ruby's arm. "Oh, and here." Weiss reached into her pocket and handed Ruby the tiny scale from before. Ruby smiled brightly.

"Perfect! Now, just forget about it completely. So it'll be a surprise!" She beamed devilishly, skipping beside Weiss.

They arrived at the guild, and saw a very worried looking Yang pacing back and forth.

"It's fine Yang, they'll be here any minute." Blake said, sitting near Yang at one of the tables, reading a book with one hand and keeping Yang tethered with the other

"No, no! I'm used to Ruby being late, but she's with Weiss! Weiss is so punctual! Something must have happened. Maybe I'll go look for them–" Yang said, as she tried to walk away. Blake had a firm grip on one of her arms, causing Yang to walk in place.

Ruby skipped over to Yang. "Yo~"

A huge wave of visible relief washed over Yang, and she returned to her usual big sistery persona. "Jeez! You had me worried there sis, I was about to bust down a few walls to find you! Oh, nice cloak!" Yang ruffled Ruby's hair.

"We saved you!" Ruby said proudly.

"Saved me?" Yang said in an amused voice. "From what~?"

"Trackers!"

Yang's smile disappeared. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"They can't track you anymore!" Ruby folded her arms proudly.

Yang turned her concerned gaze to Weiss. Weiss made a half shrug "I mean, she's kind of right? Uh." Weiss leaned close and whispered into Yang's ear. "We found some guy who had one of your scales, so we knocked him out and stole it. Ruby ate it. Also he mayyyy have seen Ruby in her dragon form and me scolding her while in said dragon form. Maybe." Weiss stepped back, waiting for Yang's reaction.

Yang kept a straight face, but put an arm around Ruby's shoulders. "Let's head outside for a sec Rubes!" she almost dragged Ruby away.

Weiss and Blake were left alone. "What was that all about?" Blake asked, watching Yang and Ruby leave the building.

"It involves their deep dark secret." Weiss said, hinting to Blake that it was dragon related. "You should really tell her you know. Then she could talk about it more openly." Blake buried her face in the book she'd been holding as an answer to Weiss's query. "Also..." Weiss sat down, and scooted close to Blake. "There was something I wanted to ask you."

Blake peered over the edge of her book at Weiss. "... Ask away."

"How did you and Yang get together? Officially, I mean? How did you, confess?" Weiss leaned closer as she asked.

"Why would you want to kno– oh. Ohhh!" Blake closed her book, and looked at Weiss knowingly. "You finally admitted it to yourself, huh?" Weiss looked into her lap to stop her cheeks from turning red, and nodded. Blake thought for a moment. "Me and Yang? Ahh, our relationship was kinda complicated? She was just always, there. Wherever I went, she was there. Now that I think about it, she might have been following me... She didn't always talk to me, but she did enough for us to be considered friends. For me to regulate her with familiarity." Blake put a hand to her chin. "She was the one who asked... She just came up to me one day and handed me note that said 'Wanna go on a date with me?'. She wouldn't look at me while I read it, but it was so cute. I wasn't seeing anyone at the time, so I agreed." Blake laughed a little. "She always seemed so confident, but she was so venerable just then."

"That was it? And It was just smooth sailing from then on?" Weiss asked, trying to take in as much as possible that she could use as future reference.

"Oh, definitely not. We had a nice time together, but, some things happened. My... Ex, showed up. Me and Yang split apart for a while. We both got hurt, but, ended up together again after about a year. And I'm so glad we did, I really love her." Blake almost seemed like she'd forgotten Weiss was there. But was reminded a second later as Weiss's intense stare bore into her.

"So I should just hand Ruby a note?" This wasn't helping Weiss all that much.. But there wasn't really anyone else she could ask.

"Sorry if I'm wrong but, Ruby already said she likes you, right?" Blake asked. Weiss nodded. "Can't you just say the same?"

"But I already told her I didn't love her, that's the problem! Like a week ago! Isn't it weird to just change your mind like that in less then a week?" Weiss lamented her woes. Blake looked ready to laugh. "It's not funny, I'm seriously troubled!" Weiss pouted.

"Sorry, sorry. You two spent the day together right? How did that go?" Blake leaned back against the table a little.

"Pretty well actually.. I gave her that cloak she was wearing, and now she wants to give me one of her scales as a necklace in return. And, thinking about it now, I think she got jealous? I was talking to a guy, and she got mad because he was 'courting me'. ...Oh my god." Weiss thought back on what had happened, and blushed softly. "That was so cute~" She covered her mouth and tried to cool down.

"You're pretty lovestruck." Blake observed.

"You think? Is it that obvious?" Weiss pulled her cloak over her head, trying to hide herself.

"Only when you're gushing about her, trust me, she won't notice." Blake waved a hand nonchalantly. "But maybe it would be better if she did. It'd take a load off you mind, wouldn't it? Should I tell her for you?"

"Nooo! That's why I asked you instead of Yang!"

Blake thought a second, then smiled. "She would, wouldn't she? Just blurt it out. And then say something like 'its alright because–"

"–because your feelings are mutual'. Yeah. That's what I'm afraid of." Weiss rested her head on the table. Agonizing over what should have been a simple decision. But like most things, she was overthinking it. Her and Blake waited in silence for Ruby and Yang to return. They were so wrapped up in their reading, and thinking, that they didn't notice the figure in the back of the guild watching them. Silently observing.


	15. I'm here

Ruby looked like she'd gotten quite the lecture, Weiss observed when her and Yang came back inside. But she also had an air of satisfaction about her. Weiss wasn't sure why, but it might have had somthing to do with whatever she was shoving in her pocket. A string?

Yang and Blake had rented two rooms at an inn nearby. Each room with only one bed, Weiss discovered. Which was fine, she'd shared a bed with Ruby before, in the other inn. But... She hadn't shared a bed with Ruby while simultaneously being aware of her personal feelings for the girl. Uh-oh. It was getting late, so Yang and Blake left Ruby and Weiss to their own devices in their room. Weiss and Ruby sat on opposite sides of the bed. Weiss was hyper aware of Ruby's presence. Every little move she made, made Weiss want to jump. Why was she so tense? So scared? Ruby felt the same! This was simple!

Weiss started having an argument with the dark side of her mind. Just tell her, and it'll be fine! But what if it isn't. How could it not be?! You've never been in a relationship before. Look at your family relations, do you think you could keep a girlfriend if you can't even act friendly with your father or brother? You'll bore her soon enough. She's a dragon, she could leave you in an instant. You already tried to leave her once, she wouldn't feel bad for doing the same. She'll leave you just like mother, just like Winter, just like everyone does. But what if she doesn't? What if she does.

"AHHHGG!" Weiss banged her head against the wall (on purpose) in frustration, startling Ruby.

"Uh. You ok Weiss..?" Ruby said from the other side of the bed.

Weiss buried her face in her hands, angry at her inability to do that one simple thing. Confess. Confessss! "No." Weiss mumbled through her hands. "My brain hurts."

"Does it hurt because you hit it? Or because its thinking of bad things?" Ruby wormed her way onto Weiss's side of the bed, her head next to Weiss's thighs. She scuttled up a little more and used them as a pillow, gazing gazing up at Weiss. Her silver eyes almost glowed in the dimly lit room. A lot about Ruby glowed. Her smile, her cheeriness, her– stop! Stop! Weiss shook her head, clearing her mind of her dark thoughts, and more recent gay thoughts. She rested a hand on Ruby's head, fluffling up her hair a little. Ruby closed her eyes and curled into a ball as much as she could while still resting her head in Weiss's lap. Weiss smiled softly. She'd begun smiling a lot more since she'd met Ruby.

"I love you Weiss." Ruby said quietly, happily nuzzling Weiss's thighs while her hair was played with. I love you too, Weiss thought to herself. She almost wished that her habit of accidentally speaking her thoughts allowed would show through just then. But it didn't. weiss vowed to herself that she would tell Ruby her feelings the very next day.

...Which of course, didn't happen. The next week was mostly uneventful. Ruby and Weiss wandered about the city, getting used to it. Weiss did a quest on her own, killing some shadow wolves again. Since the trees were so big and spread apart in the forest near this town, she couldn't use her 'gather a bunch and stab their hearts all at once' method. She had to track them down one by one, which took a good two days.

Weiss had so far successfully avoided the guy her and Ruby had taken the dragon scale from. Or more like, he just wasn't around. Odd. Weiss often thought she felt someone watching her, but a few times she saw blake around a corner or something after that feeling, so she began ignoring it. Which may not have been very wise.

It was all fine and peachy (except for Weiss's constant gay struggle to try and confess her love for Ruby) until one afternoon, when Weiss and Ruby were sitting on a bench together eating street food. Weiss spent her whole life in a castle, so it was fun to try all these fried and grease covered options that seemed so abundant in the city. Weiss had just finished her 'mystery meat on a stick' meal, when she saw him. Him. The guy from before, who they had stolen the dragon scale from. Weiss choked on air and hurriedly flipped her hood up, to try and hide herself.

Ruby noticed her sudden movements. "Hm? Whats wrong Weiss?" She asked. Ruby looked around, and saw the guy. "Oh! Him!" she then became very quiet.

Weiss prayed to every god in existence that he walk just walk on by, and not notice them. It seemed the gods weren't answering calls today. He strode over to them and sat next to Ruby, sighing melancholically. Weiss felt like her heart was about to burst from her chest.

"Have you ever been in love?" He asked Ruby wistfully, as if he were barely aware of her presence.

Ruby answered immediately, before Weiss could even tell her not to. "Yeah! I'm in love with someone right now!" She chirped.

The guy sighed again. "Love can be such a painful emotion.."

Ruby tilted her head. "Why? Isn't it a good thing to love?"

"Yes, but your heart feels 'crushed' when you can't see them again." He droned on.

"Oh yeah that is true. I'd be very sad if I couldn't see Weiss for a long time." Ruby nodded.

The guy payed her answer no mind. "I don't even know her name, and yet she's stolen my heart..! Oh cruelest of fates!"

Ruby sneezed. Her sneeze knocked her hood back, letting her face come into full view. The guy gasped. "You!"

"Me!" Ruby said back. "...me, Why?"

"You were with her! The white haired girl, your friend! In the town square! I thought nothing of it at the time, but that meeting must have been fate! I was visited by her in a dream~ We're destined for eachother~" He swooned over his own words.

"What?! No!" Ruby yelped, scaring the guy. "I fell in love with Weiss first! She's mine!" she glared angrily at him.

"So you're a–" he looked Ruby over, thought a moment, and shrugged. "–yeah I could peg you as that type. Aha! So Weiss is her name? How beautiful! And, just because you say you love her, doesn't mean she loves you, am I correct?" One look at Ruby's face was all it took for him to know that Weiss hadn't told Ruby she loved her yet. "Surly, she'll come to realize that I'M the best suited for her!" The guy looked at Ruby and smirked. "I bet she isn't even gay."

"I don't know what that means but she probably _is!"_ Ruby barked.

Weiss, still sitting on the other side of Ruby, felt like she wanted to crawl into a hold and die.

The guy stood up. "I'm going to find her and ask her on a date." He beamed, walking away.

"Wait!" Ruby called. He glanced back at her. "I'm Ruby! Tell me _your_ name so I can curse it in my sleep!" She screeched.

He waved a hand at her and walked off. "Henry Marigold!"

"I think I hate the color blue now." Ruby grumbled, watching him run his hand over his dull blueish colored hair while he left. She looked over at Weiss, who was peeking out from under her cloak at Ruby. "...oh, and now I love it again." She said as soon as she saw Weiss's eyes.

"Thanks for not blowing my cover." Weiss let out a breath of air she felt like she'd been holding the last 5 minuets.

Ruby glared at her. "I told you he was trying to court you. Hmpf." She folded her arms and looked away.

Weiss almost giggled at Ruby's actions. "Come on, you know I wouldn't go out with someone like him. Give me a little credit Ruby." Weiss bonked her on the head lightly.

Weiss could breath a sigh of relief. The guy, Henry, wasn't looking for her because he remembered her being with a dragon. He was just in love with her, that was all. She could turn him down and that would be the end of it. Or at least she hoped it'd be that simple. Maybe she could confess to Ruby and become her girlfriend, thus eliminating any chance of him thinking he could get with her! But, was it ok to use something like that as an excuse to say it..? Ah to hell with it, of course it was. Weiss had been waiting for something like this to come up all week! Tonight I'll tell her, Weiss thought. Tonight, I'll confess.

...yeah fat chance. Later that night, Weiss was in their room at the inn with Ruby. And once again, a similar situation played out before her. Her and Ruby sitting on the bed, in silence. She needed to break the ice, get some, conversation going! "Ruby?" Weiss asked. Ruby looked over at her. "Do you want to go on a quest with me tomorrow?"

Ruby beamed. "Yeah! Yeah I do!" she playfully got on her hands and knees on the bed, bouncing in place. She was like an adorable little puppy...! "Can I eat the stuff you kill?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Weiss blinked. "Uh, I suppose? if you're alright with shadow wolves."

Ruby nodded. "Yep! I like them, for eating. Their fur gets all kinda stuff out of my teeth when I eat them~ I had a bone from from a deer stuck in between my teeth for a month before I tried eating a shadow wolf to get it out!"

"How did you live?" Weiss wondered out loud.

"Huh?"

"Ah, sorry. I mean, how did you spend your time? As a dragon. You don't seem to like talking to people much, except me and Yang. Did you have dragon friends?" Weiss asked.

Ruby paused, and sat in place, thinking. "I mostly just.. Flew around, and ate things, and slept.. My head was all fuzzy. Its become so much clearer since I was able to become human." Ruby lied back, her head resting on the pillow at then top of the bed. She spoke again, and Weiss adjusted her position to lie down next to Ruby. "Some dragons never go human, and they're still really smart. But, I think turning human for a little while helps your head clear. So you can, mature faster? I don't.. Know.." Ruby's expression was blank. "I don't think I ever even met any other dragons, besides my mom, Yang, and our uncle."

Ruby got real quiet, and curled up into a ball, facing Weiss. "Weiss.. If you're going to leave again, make sure to tell me. It really scared me when you left.. You were just fine walking out the door, just like mom.. And then you were gone." Weiss recalled Yang telling her that Ruby's mom had died. Oh... Her leaving, had reminded Ruby of the day her mother left and never returned. No wonder she'd been running after Weiss in so much of a panic, she'd thrown a pig. Weiss's heart ached. She wanted to comfort Ruby, to tell her that it would all be ok.

"Ruby, look at me." Weiss gently place placed hand under Ruby's chin and lifted it a little so their eyes could meet. "I'm here." She said softly. "I promise, that I will never abandon you with out warning ever again. And if I'm gone for more then a day and I didn't tell you anything about it, I'll expect you to come running after me to save me from whatever hole I fell into." She tacked that last sentence on in a light hearted manner.

"Metaphorical holes too?" Ruby smiled. Weiss nodded, her face rending a little. Ruby smiled again and rubbed her cheek against Weiss's hand. "Hey weeeeeisss?" Ruby purred. "Close your eyes for a second~" Weiss did without second thought. She heard Ruby rustle around for a second or two, and then speak again. "Ok, open."

Weiss opened her eyes to see a small heart shaped stone about the size of her pinky finger hanging from a necklace rope. The stone glowed. Not to the eyes, but it still had a presence of glowness. The scale. "You..?" A smile crept upon her lips.

"I carved it into a heart~ Sorry it took so long." Ruby said in a whisper. She put it around Weiss's neck, which was semi difficult since they were both laying down, but still manageable. Weiss felt it, its smooth cool shape resting against her chest now.

"Thankyou." Was all she could manage to say. A heart, Ruby had given her her heart. There was nothing Weiss could give her back that would top this act of affection. And, Ruby didn't even think Weiss loved her back, she was still waiting, so patient. Weiss took a deep breath, and moved closer to Ruby, so close their foreheads were touching. She could feel the heat from Ruby's body radiating off her, like a fire was blazing within her. Weiss closed her eyes, feeling happier and more at peace then she'd felt in years.

"I love you."


	16. So happy I could die

"I love you."

...Weiss didn't want to open her eyes. She said it. She'd finally managed to say those three words. What did Ruby look like right now, she wondered? Was she happy? Angry that Weiss had taken so long? Disinterested? Weiss was starting to stress herself out, so she opened one eye for a peek, and–

Ruby was sleeping. No. No no, no way. She'd heard it right? What Weiss had said? There, there was no way she could have fallen asleep right before Weiss said it, and missed it, right? Right?! Weiss sat up, and felt her blood run cold. It had taken her more then a week to gather up the courage to finally say it, and she was only able to because Ruby had figuratively given her her heart! This situation would never happen again! She'd never be able to say it again if this time had been a flop!

She heard Ruby giggling. Weiss looked down at her, and saw the girl smiling back up at her. "You looked so panicked just now~"

Weiss wanted to KILL HERRR..! "You, little..! Mmmnghg!" Weiss flopped over on top of Ruby, pinning her down and staring into her eyes. Ruby was trying to seem confident, but Weiss could tell she was nervous.

"Heh. Sorry, I couldn't resist teasing you just a little." Ruby pushed her head up and touched her nose to the tip of Weiss's. Cute.. She laid back down, her eyes sparkling. "Woa… Does it always feel like this when someone tells you they love you? Its like my heart is trying to run away." Ruby breathed deeply to calm herself.

Weiss, similarly felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. She was above Ruby, she'd just confessed... Was she supposed to kiss her now? Kiss? Wait was that what was supposed to happen? She wasn't emotionally ready for that yet! Weiss flipped herself over quick as lighting, onto her side facing away from Ruby.

"Hm? Nooo come back..!" Ruby called dramatically. She moved herself over and put an arm around Weiss's middle, pulling her close. Ruby leaned into Weiss, smelling the back of her neck. "You smell so nice... It's a smell only you have~ Your human smell."

Weiss only just barely kept in the screech of embarrassment she wanted to let out. She could feel Ruby's breath on the back of her neck, tickling her, constantly reminding her that she was there. The arm softly clinging to her middle was another reminder. Ruby's legs kicked playfully at Weiss's, entangling themselves with them. Ruby held Weiss tightly, like she never wanted to let her go. She fell asleep for real that time, clinging softly to Weiss like a baby panda. Weiss had been so tense when Ruby first hugged her, but over the weeks, she'd learned to accept them. And at this moment, despite how flustered Weiss was, she was truly enjoying Ruby's physical affection. She wanted to hug her back. But the position she was in now was so warm and comfy, and she didn't want to wake Ruby up. She let herself slowly drift to sleep, Rubys prenense enveloping her.

* * *

Morning now. As soon as Weiss awoke, memories of the events of last night crashed down upon her. She felt such relief, and yet at the same time such fear. She wasn't sure how to act in a relationship! Were her and Ruby in a relationship now? They hadn't talked about it yet. They needed to. Weiss felt something gently patting her head. She opened her eyes, and saw that her position from last night had been altered. Instead of Ruby spooning her, now Ruby was lying down on her back with Weiss resting her head on Ruby's chest. And Ruby was petting her. Weiss lifted her head a little, to meet Ruby's eyes.

"You're awake." Ruby observed, still patting. Weiss felt like a cat, the instinct of wanting to flee only being held back by the fact that the petting was nice.

"Yeah.. Um." Weiss wanted to ask her. Ask her if she remembered Weiss's confession.

Ruby sat up, indirectly pushing Weiss to a sitting position as well. She looked to the side, and rubbed the back of her head a little. "Was that true?"

"Was what?"

"What you said. You, love me. Was that just spur of the moment, or did you mean it?" Ruby asked calmly, as if she was trying not to get her hopes up to high. But Weiss could sense the worry in her voice. Ruby covered her mouth and gasped. "Was it a dream?"

"No! No, it wasn't a dream. I did say it." Weiss reassured her. The sight of happiness flushing throughout Ruby after she told her was a sight to behold.

"Are we girlfriends now?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Weiss held in an embarrassed laugh at her sudden excitement. "Yes, if you want to be."

Ruby paused, and narrowed her eyes at Weiss. "I only want to if you want to.."

Weiss looked away and covered her mouth to hide a huge smile. "I do, I want to."

"Can you say it again? That you, um, love me?" If Ruby had a tail it would have been wagging excitedly.

It was still hard for Weiss to get the words out. Her family had never been one for expressing open affection, whereas Ruby could say she loved Weiss at the drop of a hat. Weiss wanted to be like that too. Able to openly express affection, without having to fear consequences that may or may not exist. Weiss closed her eyes, her hands in her lap, feeling far more vulnerable than she'd ever felt before. "I.. love you."

A moment after she said it, Weiss felt Ruby wrap her arms around her in a hug. "Thank you for saying it~ I asked Yang for advice a little while ago, and, she said you might have trouble saying stuff like that. I don't know what your family was like, or why you ran away from them, but I'm glad you feel safe enough with me to hug and stuff. And say you love me." Ruby backed up a little and smiled at Weiss. "And it's okay if it takes time for you! You don't have to be able to say it all the time immediately! Yang said I might want to tone it down a bit myself, heh." She made an awkward laugh.

Weiss initiated the hug that time. "Don't. It makes me so happy to hear you say it, say it as much as you like." She squeezed Ruby tightly, the feeling of hugging another person so completely almost making her dizzy. It had been years since she hugged Winter. Holding another person in her arms felt so good.

"Hey Weiss? Now that we're girlfriends... Can we kiss?" Ruby asked innocently.

Her asking that gave Weiss what felt like a psychic punch to the gut, nearly doubling her over. She recovered quickly, trying to compose herself. "Y-yes, but, there things like the timing, and the mood, and lots of stuff that needs to fall into place before we, uh.."

Ruby was thinking carefully. "Ok! I'll make sure to do that! We'll do it when its really romantic and stuff!" She glowed with determination. It was almost blinding. "Are we still going on a quest today?" Ruby asked, hopping off the bed.

Weiss blinked, remembering asking her yesterday. "Yes! We are, we can go choose one right now if you want. Maybe eat at the guild, or on the way there."

"Oh! Can I tell Yang? That we're girlfriends now! She'll be so happy!" Ruby chirped, eagerly eyeing the door.

Weiss waved a hand. "Go on, and tell her we won't be eating at the inn this morning either."

"K!" Ruby vanished in a flurry of rose petals, a trail of them leading to the now half open door to their room. Weiss let herself fall onto her back among the tangled blankets of the bed, sighing. She had a girlfriend. Ruby Rose was her girlfriend. And that sentence brought her so much joy. Weiss grabbed one of the pillows and rolled around on the bed a few times, screaming silently into it. A moment later she heard a loud thump and a yelp from the next room over. Weiss smiled as she imagined Ruby dive bombing Yang and knocking her out of bed to tell her the news.

Weiss put a hand over her heart, trying to calm herself down from her confession high. The necklace. She felt its smooth form under her hand. She pulled it out to get a better look at it. It really was the scale from that time, carved ever so slightly to become a perfectly rounded heart. The Ruby red color of it was so vibrant, as if it were alive! It shone in the morning light, a tiny rainbow reflecting off of it. A small sturdy was rope wrapped around it, keeping it tethered. This really was something super valuable, wasn't it? It's the first thing someone would try to steal if Weiss ever got mugged. She thought about taking it off and hiding it away for a second, but no. Ruby had given it to her, to wear. And Weiss wanted to keep Ruby's heart as close as possible at all times. What better way to do that then to have it as a necklace? She'd keep it close forever.

Weiss stood and stretched, walking over to the window. She opened it and leaned out against the windowsill, letting a gust of fresh air waft over her. She shivered, but felt refreshed. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something. When she looked, there wasn't anything there. Just a tree, nothing around it. Except.. Something near the base bothered her. A black little lump. Was that a rock? It almost looked like a boot, the tree was big enough for someone to hide behind it.

That was silly, why would anyone be hiding behind a tree at this hour? Unless, it was some assassin or kidnapper hired to capture Weiss, like Blake had been before. Weiss was starting to stress herself out. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of such thoughts. When she looked back, the little black lump behind the base of the tree was nowhere to be found.

Yang burst into the room a wild grin on her face, scaring Weiss. "Congrats ice queen! You finally did it!" She put a hand on Weiss's shoulder to show support.

"IcE QUeEn?!" Weiss felt her voice crack when she spoke. Yang nodded.

"Yep! You're finally melting!" Yang let go of Weiss, and did finger guns at her with one eye closed. Weiss wanted to toss her out the window.

Blake came in with Ruby excitedly bouncing next to her, whispering into her ear. Blake had probably told her not to yell, so now her ear was being whispered to death. Ear? Human ear. Blake had a pair of human ears, and cat ears? She had four ears then. Huh.

"Congratulations." Blake yawned. It seemed she wasn't much of a morning person. Yang strode over to Blake and put an arm around her shoulder.

"So. You two gonna do anything special today?" Yang asked, turning back to Weiss.

"Yeah! We're going on our first quest together!" Ruby exploded in a fit of joy. She then froze. "Ah! Bathroom–" Ruby dashed away, leaving more rose petals in her wake.

Yang gave Weiss a loving look. "I haven't seen her this exited in a long time. She's zooming all over the place! It's a good thing the petals disappear, otherwise it'd be HELL to clean up." Weiss had noticed that, Ruby's rose petals seemed to vanish on their own after a few minutes. Weiss wondered if she should tell Yang and blake about the thing she just saw behind the tree. But it might have been nothing. And she didn't want to bother them if it was nothing. "Something wrong?" Yang asked quietly, seeing Weiss's expression.

"No, it's just.." Weiss glanced at the tree outside, then shook her head. "Its nothing." Weiss was about to walk past Yang and Blake, but blake put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. You can talk to us about stuff." Blake said.

Weiss tried to shrug off the kind gesture. "No really! I'm fine, I was just getting that watching feeling from Blake."

Yang tilted her head. "Watching feeling?"

"You know, when she follows you. When she was stalking me a little while before Ruby got 'kidnapped' I kept having a feeling of being watched. I don't, I'm not.." Weiss really didn't want to trouble them. "I'm just being paranoid. Sorry." She stepped past them and left without another word. Weiss slapped her cheeks, shaking her head. She was going to go out with Ruby today, and have FUN. It was their first day officially together. She wanted to make the most of it. Ruby met up with her downstairs, and her and Weiss set off to the guild. They passed the tree Weiss had thought she'd seen something behind earlier that morning.

Weiss tried to ignore the footprints in the mud behind the tree as they left.


	17. Fly high

"Bring back the head of the golden dragon." Ruby read off of the quest board. They'd come from the inn to try and do a question together, but Ruby had sped up and gotten to the quest board before her. Rose petals littered the floor of her path. Someone with a broom was glaring at Ruby, looking between her and the rose petals. Weiss offered a word of advice as she walked by.

"Don't worry, they disappear on their own after a few minutes. Don't bother sweeping them." Weiss caught up to Ruby.

Ruby pointed to the dragon quest. "Yang isn't very good at keeping her presence a secret." She said, with a hint of amusement. Weiss was glad Ruby wasn't to worried. The two girls scoured the board, and another quest caught Weiss's eye. 'Slay the red dragon'

...

"You're not so good yourself, it seems." Weiss nudged Ruby and glanced at the red dragon quest.

"Ah... hahahaha... Yeah.." Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.

"No matter." Weiss sighed with a smile. "Let's grab something wolf related."

Just as Weiss was reaching for a wolf slaying quest, someone else brushed hands with her, reaching for the same paper. Weiss looked down and saw a girl shorter than her pull her hand back. Her hood covered most of her face, but Weiss could see a brown eye peeking out from behind it. A pink eye. Weiss blinked, and the girls eye was back to brown. Had she imagined that little splash of pink? Probably. The girl ran off before Weiss could say anything, leaving the quest paper behind.

"That means we get it right? She left." Ruby asked, watching the girl run off.

Weiss nodded, unable to follow the short girl with her eyes for to long as she ran into the crowd of people talking and chatting in the guild. Despite the gloomy atmosphere, people still chatted. That was comforting. Weiss brought the quest to the front desk, where the guild secretary, or whatever you call the person that accepts quests for you was called, gave them permission to go.

They went to the forest, a quest to hunt 15 shadow wolves in their possession. After they'd gone a little ways into the forest, Ruby changed into dragon form. She poked Weiss on the shoulder before doing so, remembering her words from last time 'Warn me next time!'. Weiss felt touched that she'd remembered.

[[So! How do you usually hunt them?]] Ruby asked, telepathically.

"Since this forest is so wide and open, and the trees aren't readily climbable, I'd go at them one at a time. Find one, and strike its heart. I've trained enough to have a 97% rate of success when stabbing their hearts!" Weiss added proudly.

[[Hmm. So how should we do it together? I can grab some as a dragon and rip them to shreds, but then you wouldn't need to pierce their hearts.]] Ruby batted at her head, scaring away a bird that had tried to land on her horns.

"We need their nails! That's the proof that we've killed them, we take off their nails and bring them back in a bag. So don't completely destroy them please." Weiss raised an eyebrow at Ruby. "And maybe we can split up the number of wolves to kill. Just, make sure you get the nails."

Ruby nodded, her heads horns scratching a tree as she did. She hissed at the tree in an irritated manner. Weiss tried not to laugh. They walked for a little bit more, when Ruby piped up again. [[Weiss? Can I, offer a suggestion?]]

"Go on." Weiss said, looking up at her.

[[I have a good nose! I think I can track the wolves faster if I just follow my nose. But sometimes I get to into tracking, so I might go faster then you can run. Do you want to sit on me? Like a ride on a horse!]] Ruby puffed a tiny flame out of her mouth as she sent her words into Weiss's head.

Weiss stopped, and Ruby stopped next to her. "Would you be ok with that? I don't want to demean you in any way." She hesitated.

[[Nope! I'm fine! Yang gave me rides on her back before I could fly, I think it'd be fun to give someone a ride! And you're so light, I'd barely feel it.]] Ruby's tail wagged. Huh, so dragons do wag their tails. Cute. Weiss was unsure of how to climb on Ruby, but a moment later, Ruby laid down on her stomach. [[Climb aboard!]] She moved her tail over for Weiss to use as a stepping stool. [[Also, you might want to take your cloak off and sit on it. My scales aren't sharp, but they all go one way so if you rub against them wrong it might hurt you. Humans are fragile.]]

Weiss took her advice. As soon as she climbed up, she set her cloak down. Ruby's line of back scales, the line of raised scales that goes from the head to the tail on a dragon, was easy to sit on if Weiss bundled the cloak up on top of them. She was able to get a firm grip on the part of Ruby where her wings connected to her back with her hands. [[It's fine to grab there, I can't feel a thing! That area is strong enough to hold up by body when flying, it can take you touching it.]] Ruby assured her.

And off they went. Ruby was right, she did start to move about rather quickly. Quickly, and silently. It was like they'd become a ghost, Ruby was so light on her feet. Weiss leaned down onto her, using the blockage of Ruby's head to shield her from the wind. Ruby stopped suddenly, and jerked her head to the left. She crawled slowly and stopped again. Weiss could see a group of 5 shadow wolves ahead. The hadn't noticed her and Ruby yet.

[[You take 2, I'll take 3?]] Ruby stared at the wolves intently. Weiss patted her back gently as an agreement.

Ruby pounced. She tore into of of the wolves ravenously, getting the others into a defensive formation immediately. Ruby bit a huge chunk out of the wolf, then turned to the others. Weiss gracefully zipped by, piercing of of their hearts. It struggled to stay on its feet, but fell within a few seconds. The wolves attention stayed on Ruby, and she grabbed another, shaking her head with it in her mouth. The last two wolves wised up and tried to run, but Ruby jumped over and cut off their exit point. She stomped on one, and Weiss stabbed the other.

"That went beautifully!" Weiss exclaimed. "Normally I'd have lost those two that tried to run, or I'd have to spend the rest of the day tracking them down!" Weiss smiled brightly at Ruby, splatters of wolf blood on her face because of Ruby's intense method of attacking. "Thanks so much!"

If Ruby wasn't already red, she would have been turning that color right now. She looked over at her kills, and went to them, dragging them into a pile for Weiss. Weiss gagged a little, but set to work, taking out the nails from one of their feet. [[Can I help?]] Ruby asked curiously.

"It might be a bit hard since your claws are so big." Weiss joked, focusing on her task.

[[But you forget–]] Ruby said, turning human again mid sentence. She was covered in blood. "–I can be human to!" She finished. Ruby sat down next to Weiss, and Weiss explained how to pull out the nails carefully. Ruby go the hang of it on about the 4th wolf. "So now what?" Ruby asked when they'd collected the nails from all 5 wolves.

"Normally I'd just leave them here. So you can eat them if you want." As soon as Weiss finished speaking, Ruby went up in a puff of smoke and turned dragon again. She pounced on the wolf pile, munching and crunching happily. Weiss turned away and tried not to puke, the sounds of Ruby eating creating horrible imagery in her mind. When Ruby was done, Weiss couldn't help but wonder. "Is it hard, to go back and forth between human and dragon?"

Ruby, dragon, tilted her head. [[I don't think so? It's like... Putting on a cloak. It's easy to take off and put back on. Unless you're really tired. Which I'm not!]] Ruby jumped in place, scaring some nearby animals. Little rabbits and birds ran for cover.

Weiss nodded. "Well, the day is young. Let's find some more shadow wolves." Her and Ruby did indeed find more. A group of 3 that they took down easily, and a group of 7. The group of seven was more difficult, Weiss almost got her head bit off, but Ruby bit the wolf that tried to do that to her clean in half. They collected all their nails, and it was barely noon. "Wow. I'm not sure if they're going to believe we did all this so fast." Weiss mumbled to herself, looking at the 15 shadow wolves wortho of nails in the bag she held.

[[Why wouldn't they?]] Ruby asked curiously.

"Well, it took me 2 days to hunt down 10 of them in this big forest last time. Even with another person, it would still take longer than an afternoon. And it's not like we can say you just 'went dragon' and ate half of them." Weiss put the nails in her waist pouch and folded her arms. "Maybe if we just stay out till dusk it'll look believable." Weiss was standing, facing away from Ruby as she spoke. To someone just coming upon them in the forest, it would look as if a dragon was about to eat an unsuspecting girl from behind. And that's just what happened.

Weiss heard the clink of a metal sword, and turned just in time to see someone jumping at Ruby with a sword. An enchanted sword, by the looks of it. That would certainly cut through Ruby's scales. One second Weiss was about to scream, and the next, she was high above the forest in Ruby's claws. She gasped. [[I'm so sorry! Someone snuck up on us and was going to slice me! I didn't want him to hurt you so I panicked and ran!]] Ruby apologized profusely.

Weiss was in awe, the wind blowing in her face an exciting and exhilarating feeling. She yelped in joy. Ruby heard, and got a little less tense. Ruby stopped flying forward, and hovered in place, her wings beating the aor noisily. [[Are you ok? I didn't scratch you, did I?]]

Weiss had to yell to be heard over the flapping of wings and natural high wind. "No! I'm good!"

Ruby made a happy growl, and started flying higher. Weiss excitedly gripped her claws. Ruby flew up so high they reached the clouds, and then she let herself fall. Weiss smiled and screamed as they fell, Ruby making a swooping dive bomb at the last second to avoid crashing into the trees. Weiss was having a blast. When Ruby finally landed, Weiss's hair was an absolute mess. Weiss flopped down onto the grass, as Ruby had landed back in the forest. A different area of the forest then where they were before, but still. Weiss panted heavilu, the adrenaline from her adventure still coursing through her veins.

Ruby turned human again, and lied down next to her. "You liked it?" She asked with a grin.

Weiss covered her mouth and tried to calm herself. "...Yes! It was fun!" She blushed a little attempted to hide her excitement by looking to the side, but Ruby saw through her ruse immediately.

"I love you." Ruby said, putting her hand on Weiss's.

It was still hard for Weiss to say, but she wanted to return the sentiment. "Me too." She said, heart full to the brim.

They returned to the guild, Ruby in human form. It was late afternoon, early evening. As soon as they entered, they heard yelling. "I'm telling you, we saw it! It was in the forest, it grabbed some girl and flew off in a flurry of rose petals!" A group of guys were frantically telling the guild front desk person something. Weiss felt her gaze drawn to them. Had they said.. 'Rose petals'..? "It was that prissy white haired girl that's been around recently, we'll probably see missing posters for her in the next–"

One of the guys tapped his friend, and pointed at Weiss, who was standing nearby to get in line after them. "You!" Another one of them shouted. "You got eaten!"

Weiss stared at them blankly. Quick, quick. Think up something to say. "...Clearly I haven't been, as I standing here."

"But but! You! In the forest! A red dragon snuck up on you out of nowhere and snatched you!" The first guy said.

"I doubt I'd be alive if that happened. Are you guys okay? Did you hit you heads?" Weiss reached out a hand and tried to sound genuinely concerned.

"No! We saw it! We all saw it! Where were you today if not in the forest?!"

"Well I WAS in the forest, but not being eaten by nonexistent dragons. I was with my friend–" Weiss looked over to Ruby. "–and we were hunting shadow wolves. We got 15 of them, I wouldn't have had TIME to get kidnapped by a dragon or we wouldn't have gotten all these. If you'll excuse me, may I give them to the front desk?" Weiss took out the bag of nails. The guys stepped aside and left her pass, Weiss handing the bag if nails and the quest paper to the guild secretary.

One of the guys spoke up again. "Even if it didn't get you, there is a dragon out there! Multiple people have seen it, we found footprints and scrapes from its claws and horns on the trees!" Weiss recalled one of Ruby's horns scraping against a tree earlier and winced. "And, there are eyewitness accounts of it disappearing into a cloud of rose petals!"

A few people in the guild who had been eavesdropping on the conversation looked to Ruby. In just a week, Ruby had gained a reputation as 'The peppy girl who somehow gets rose petals everywhere'. The guys noticed everyone looking to Ruby.

"What? Why is everyone looking at her?" he glanced at Ruby. "You a dragon?"

Ruby took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, I am." Weiss nearly fainted. "You can tell from my razor sharp claws–" Ruby held up her human hand, with short fingernails "–and my large lizard like tail and wings." She motioned to her back, which was void of the said tail and wings she was referring to. "Truly, the epitome of dragoness, wouldn't you say?" Ruby smiled cutely at them.

The brushed her off after that. All except one of them, who kept staring at her suspiciously. Ruby ignored him, and went about her business. Weiss received the money for the quest, and they sat at a table. Ruby had told Weiss earlier that Yang and Blake would meet them at the guild for dinner. When Yang and Blake showed up, Ruby dashed over to meet them and tell them about her day. And her dashing over was like instant teleportation, with a trail of rose petals.

The guy still watching them spluttered his drink and pointed. "Th-that! That's just like the dragon! That's kinda suspicious right? Right?! Am I alone on this?!" His friends ignored him, to his chagrin.

Weiss felt like they'd just dodged a bullet, as she sipped her drink and eyed the group of grumbling guys nervously. Ruby dragged over Yang and Blake, excitedly talking about their day. She would randomly stop and whisper into Yang's ear at times, probably when she had to say something dragon related that Blake couldn't hear. Although, Weiss had to wonder if maybe Blake could hear Ruby's whispering. She did have four ears after all.

After Ruby was done talking, Yang spoke up. "Weiss? There's something we need to tell you." She sounded serious. Was everything ok? "We secretly stalked you this morning because of what you said, and well..."

Blake finished for Yang. "You're being followed."

"Oh." Ahhhhh there it was. The thing she'd been subconsciously avoiding.

"By 4 different people." Yang added.

...Wait what?


	18. Yes, ninjas exist in this fantasy world

The girls had decided to continue their conversation away from prying eyes (and ears) and had randevud in Ruby and Weiss's room. Yang and Blake had just finished telling Weiss and Ruby about the 4 stalkers. Apparently, Weiss was being followed by 4 different people. Not a group of 4 people, but 4 separately affiliated people. Or at least that's what they assumed. 1, a cloaked person they couldn't see the face of, but assumed was a man from the hunched broad shoulders. 2, a very short cloaked person that Yang swore had brown hair because she said she'd seen it when the person turned their head. Blake said the same, but she'd seen pink. They weren't sure who was correct. 3, a ninja, or at least someone who appeared to be a ninja. And 4, a young man with dull blue hair who was very bad at hiding, and that they honestly should have spotted if they were being aware of their surroundings at all.

"Wait." Weiss said. "Wait, that last one we can cross off the list. Ruby, its that guy. From yesterday."

Ruby clenched a fist and glared dramatically off into space. "Menry harigold..!"

It was funnier to leave it as is, so Weiss didn't correct Ruby. Yang shook her head. "I don't see how you could have missed HIM. He was honestly so bad at it. I don't know how long he's been following you, but I'm a bit concerned you didn't notice him at all this morning.

"Well, you know.. Confession high.." Weiss rubbed the back of her head. The past week, she'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts of how to confess to Ruby, she barely knew where she was at any point in the day. And Henry would have just started following her today, so it was normal they hadn't noticed him! Completely normal! Weiss thought about the footprints in the mud behind the tree she'd seen that morning, and the feelings of being watched she'd had the past week. Those hadn't been Henry. Yikes. Worrying about gay stuff really lowered her guard. She'd have to work on that... Her mind had been so frantic to figure out her situation over Ruby, she had ignored clear signs of danger. Yeah, she DEFINITELY had to work on that.

"Ah, yeah that's fair.." Yang nodded, agreeing with Weiss's statement. Yang had probably experienced a similar state of euphoria when she and Blake first go together, Weiss figured.

"I've noticed that there hasn't been any information going around that you're missing Weiss." Blake said. "Even in the dark places. I only heard about you from my client. You are the second atlas princess, right?"

Client! That's right! Weiss had wanted to ask about that! "Blake? You said your client was my mother, right? Did you meet her?!" Weiss leaned way over into Blake's personal space.

"Ahck!" Blake scooted back, almost hissing. she cleared her throat. "Ahem. No, I didn't. Not directly at least. We communicated by letter."

Oh... If it was by letter, then there was no way Weiss could track the culprit down and see if it was her mother. Weiss thought on Blake's earlier question. Why HADN'T her disappearance become public knowledge? Before, Weiss had chalked it up to the fact that she'd been moving faster then the news could travel, but she'd been in this town for more then a week. And still no sign of a missing poster or anything. Maybe they didn't realize? Perhaps Klein had kept up the whole 'Weiss is still in her bedroom' act up longer then expected. No, that couldn't be. She'd missed her own wedding. Her father had to know she was gone.

Ruby raised a hand. "So uh, what are we gonna do? About the people following Weiss?"

No one had an answer. Yang took a shot in the dark. "We could.. Try to capture one of them..? Maybe the first one, or the second? If we're disregarding Menry. And it'd be wise to Avoid the third as long as possible, I don't like our chances against a ninja. Dragon or not, I don't think it'd be wise for me to loose another arm." Another arm? Weiss double checked, confirming that Yang did indeed have two arms. What did she mean by that? Blake stared at Yang, and Yang froze up. "I, I meeeannnn uhhh I don't wanna, uh, be draggin' out chances of winning down! Hah! ...hahah!" Yang was sweating nervously, looking in the exact opposite direction of Blake.

Weiss thought she saw a small smile appear on Blake's face for a split second. "Hm? What do you mean by that? Dragon?" Blake feigned ignorance. She! She was teasing her! Ohhh! EVIL!

Yang stayed staring at the wall and spoke, her voice a hoarse whisper. "...let's talk about this later."

Blake laughed a little, and leaned against Yang's back.. "You're bad at keeping secrets about yourself, you know. Especially from people you care about." She kneaded a hand on Yang's back. Yang blushed heavily.

Ruby looked deep in thought, then went wide eyed. "Ohh! This, this is about the secret! Weiss, do you know it?" She turned to Weiss.

Weiss nodded. "I do. Both of them." Blake and Yang both shot Weiss a conflicted glance.

"Me too! I'm sure Yang knows, I mean we can smell it from a mile away." Ruby folded her arms and nodded to herself. She then stood up, and put a hand on Blake's shoulder and a hand on Yang's. "You two need to go into the other room and talk about your secrets! We'll talk about Weiss's stalkers later!" Ruby stood them up and pushed them into the hall, leaving to push them into their room. She returned a moment later. Ruby was quite eager to have her sister talk out her feelings, considering how worried she'd been about the stalker thing a moment ago.

Weiss waited till Ruby shut the door and sat on the bed next to her. "So. You knew Blake was a.." She waited for Ruby to finish her sentence.

"Faunus? Yep! Dragons have really good senses of smell. I could tell immediately. But she looked like she was trying hard to hide it, so I didn't say anything. Though It'd be impossible for Yang not to have noticed it already." Ruby waved a hand nonchalantly.

Weiss smiled softly to herself, and flopped down on the bed. "I'm exhausted..!" Ruby looked fidgety. She kept eyeing the door. "Ruby? Whats wrong?" Weiss asked, looking back up at her.

Ruby looked a little guilty. "...I wanna go eavesdrop."

"We can't do that! That is their private conversation, and listening in on that would be extremely rude! She has a right to privacy! And..! And..." ...

* * *

"Quit pushing, I want to listen too!"

"Shhh! They'll hear us!" Weiss hissed at Ruby. It had taken her all of thirty seconds to fold and agree to eavesdrop with Ruby.

Muffled voices sounded through the door Weiss and Ruby both had their ears pressed against.

They heard Yang's voice. "I did, I always knew. From the start. But you didn't say anything, so I didn't bring it up."

Blake was next. "Me to. At first I was really nervous, and thought maybe you wanted to get me alone to eat me or something."

"Eat you!?" Yang spluttered. Weiss and Ruby fought hard not to giggle at her slightly comical outrage.

"Yes, eat me! I didn't know anything about dragons! And I hadn't really thought about it until recently, but Ruby's a dragon too isn't she?"

It was silent for a moment, then Yang's voice could be heard again. "...yeah. We're biological sisters after all. Weiss actually figure it out immediately, as soon as she learned I was Ruby's sister she just went 'oh so you're one to?'. Scared the crap outta me, I thought she was gonna go running to the guards or try to off us for a minuet there." A muffled groan sounded next, and Weiss imagined Yang pressing her hand against her face in irritation. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. There just, wasn't a good moment."

Silence again. Weiss heard a small scuffling movement, and a sigh that she couldn't pinpoint the origin of. Blake spoke "Me to. Though, you knew all along I guess, hah." More creaking. They were moving around on the bed a lot? Weiss had a sudden thought, and blushed a little.

She tapped Ruby on the shoulder, letting her know that they'd probably eavesdropped enough. Weiss had to drag Ruby away, the girls curiosity winning over her reasoning. Weiss shoved her back in their room. "I gave in for a bit, but lets leave them alone now." She said, shutting the door.

Ruby was silent. She sat on the bed, and lied back on it. "Weiss?" She said softly. "Why are people so scared of dragons?"

Oh. That was a hard question to answer, she didn't want to hurt Ruby's feelings.. But then again, she had asked point blank. "Well, one reason mainly. Some dragons, they attack people. They kill and burn and eat everything they come across. That's really the only knowledge humans have about dragons. And because it's the only thing they know, they tell others what they think they know, and eventually because so many people believe the same thing, they consider it a fact." Weiss explained.

Ruby stared at the ceiling. "That's dumb..." She said. letting out a breath of air.

Weiss half smiled. "But think about it. If you saw some weird creature, and all it did in front of you was bite you or bite other things, you'd think all it can do is bite. And as long as none of the other ones show you anything different, you'll think they just bite." She patted Ruby's head.

Ruby rolled over and lied on her stomach, glaring at nothing. She kicked her legs sparatickly for a second, then let out a defeated puff. She seemed very grumpy. Was it just because of Weiss's answer to her question? Or was there something else weighing on her mind? She wanted to ask, but she got a slight feeling of dread. What? Weiss shivered, and looked around. It was just her and Ruby in the room, no one else. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong.

Weiss noticed that the window was open just a crack, so she went over and closed it. Had the window been open before? She searched her mind. She couldn't remember.

"Weisssssss..." Ruby groaned from the bed. Weiss immediately had a flashback of to when Blake had injected that permanent sleeping potion into Ruby before kidnapping her. It wore off because she was a dragon. If the same thing happened again she'd be fine right? Ruby spoke again. "Cuddle meeeee..."

Ah. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, and walked to the bed. Ruby sat up quick as lightning, grabbed her, and pulled her back down onto it. "Ompf!" Weiss almost got the wind knocked out of her. Ruby hugged her happily and made a small purring sound. Awww~!

Her and Ruby lied there a while. Ruby fell asleep, and Weiss was close to following, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was about to tell Ruby to lay off, but she noticed that both Ruby's hands were still hugging her. Weiss looked up to see a figure in black. Her heart rate rose, starting to panic, but.. S **h** e calm **e** d down. There wasn't anything wrong here, real **l** y **.** They weren't trying to kidna **p** her. They could just talk, she didn't need to freak out. Odd, her vision was going black and white. But that was fine. The figure helped her stand, and gently took her by the hand, leading her out of the roo **m** W **e** iss looked back at Ruby, wondering if she'd be alright sleeping alone. She looked away. Yeah, she'd be fine.

She left the room with the strange figure, and was almost out of the inn when she stumbled over a broken floorboard. She let go of the figures hand for an instant, and all color and emotion washed back into her world. She was suddenly hyper aware of her situation. A stranger had broken into their inn room and somehow convinced her to willingly leave with them. How? Had they done that? Weiss nearly started hyperventilating. Was it touch? They'd touched Her shoulder and that's how it started right? So she needed to avoid touch, ok... That was going to be difficult. Wait was this the ninja Blake and Yang had been talking about?! To much was happening at once!

The figure backed up slowly, and left the building. They vanished into the cover of darkness. Weiss was left standing alone in the front room of the inn. Alone, until someone touched her shoulder again. She whipped around and slapped then without a second thought. "Ow!" The person yelped.

"Henry!?" Weiss spluttered. Him? Oh god not now, PLEASE now now..!

His eyes sparkled. "You know my name?" Weiss wanted to sink into a puddle on the floor and cease to exist. She also wanted to back upstairs and tell the girls what'd just happened. Buuut at the same time she didn't need Henry knowing which room she was in, He seemed like the kind of guy who would try sending anonymous gifts to woo a girl. Not that that was a bad thing, its just, she had to travel light. She was technically on the run after all.

"...yes. My friend Ruby told me about you.. You, talked to her." Weiss lied through her teeth. What she was saying was semi believable at least.

Henry nervously coughed. "Hah, yeah, she's spunky." He looked to the aide, and whistled a little. "Sooo.. I was wondering if you were doing anything in the next few days, and I wa–"

"Ahh!" Ruby appeared at the top of the stairs and zipped over to Weiss, rose petals in her wake, and hugged her from behind. Weiss struggled to stay standing. "Enemy spotted!" Ruby yelped, clinging to Weiss still.

Henrys smile turned to a grimace at Rubys appearance. He cleared his throat and asked Weiss again. "Would you like to have dinner with me some time Weiss?" He smiled in a charming way. Ruby gripped Weiss tighter, but stayed silent. As if she wanted Weiss to turn him down of her own free will. Poor Weiss's mind was still reeling over the fact that she'd just narrowly escaped a kidnapping and wasn't ready to deal with this situation. Why couldn't her semblance be invisibility? Now would be a great time for something like that to appear.

But alas, it did not. Weiss sucked up her courage, and spoke in a professional manner. "I will not be available in the near future." For a second, it felt like she was back home. Back home and turning down some guy who had come to propose to her at their parents command. A chill ran through her heart. Henry was disappointed, but nodded. He didn't look like he'd given up though.

Blake and Yang appeared at the top of the stairs, winded. They were wearing each others pajama bottoms. Weiss pursed her lips and looked away.

"Ruby! You yelled! Everything, hah, ok?!" Yang panted wildly. She spotted henry and pointed. "Ah! Number 4!"

Henry excused himself, not wanting to be caught in the middle of whatever was happening. Ruby looked up at her sister. "That was like 5 minuets ago! What took you so long?" She tilted her head.

"Well we had to get dres– ow!" Yang started, but Blake punched her in the arm hard.

Ruby didn't get it, so she went back to focusing her attention on hugging Weiss. Weiss and Blake exchanged glances, and all was known. And it was decided in that glance that they would never speak of this again.

"Ok, so why are you two down here?" Yang rubbed her arm where the agitated Blake had punched.

Ah. Right. "No reason in particular, I just, almost got kidnapped." Weiss said.


	19. Sick

"Okay, okay, wait, back up a few seconds. You almost got what?" Yang said. "Can we not have 5 minutes of peace with you around? Uhg, just come on back up here, let's go to your room." She started walking away.

"I'm not that troublesome!" Weiss argued, holding Ruby's hand as she climbed up the stairs.

"Yes, but you have been for the past two days at least." Blake added as they entered Weiss and Ruby's room again. Weiss shot her a glare as she made Ruby sit on the bed. With all that had happened, everyone was to wired to think properly. Blake sighed. "I think it would be wise for us to all go to sleep now. I don't know what happened before, but your kidnapper isn't here now. They got chased off somehow?" Weiss nodded. "Then they shouldn't come back on the same night."

Ruby yawned while Blake was talking. Not in a mean way, she was just tired. Which proved Blake's point expertly.

"Lets all sleep here. We're all basically ready for bed anyways, and it might be better to stay close." Yang said, eyeing the fluffier of the two pillows at the end of the bed. A split second later, she pounced on it, almost flinging Ruby off the bed. Ruby squeaked and grabbed Weiss to level herself. Which in turn, pulled Weiss down towards the bed. Weiss grabbed Blake, and Blake tried to grab thin air. Both girls tumbled down on top of their respective girlfriends.

They settled down after a few giggles, snuggling all together like a pile of puppies. It was a little crowded on the bed, but Weiss had a sense of safety and warmth cuddled around her friends. It was nice. And nothing else bothered them that night.

In the morning, when everyone was fully awake, they went to eat in the inns dining room and Weiss explained what had happened the night before more properly. That someone with some weird magic or power to evoke a sense of calm into you had gently lead her sleep deprived self out of the room and almost out of the inn. Ruby hadn't noticed, because she was asleep and Weiss hadn't struggled because of the overwhelming calmness and drowsiness. It would have worked perfectly for her captor if Weiss hadn't stumbled over a loose floorboard in the last few seconds.

"Might be someone's semblance." Yang muttered. "There's a million different ones of those." Blake didn't look confused, so Weiss assumed that Yang had given her the semblance run down, similar to how Ruby had for her.

"Oh! Idea idea!" Ruby jumped up. "We'll just leave town!"

"They'll still follow Weiss, even if we do." Blake commented.

"No, not on foot! By Wing! Flying!" Ruby grinned devilishly. "Blake knows Yang's secret now, so we can just fly wherever instead of walking! Me and Weiss already flew a little bit just yesterday!" Blake glanced at Weiss. Weiss nodded, doing a half shrug. "That way, we'll outrun the ninja, whoever else was following Weiss, and leave Menry in the dust!"

Everyone thought for a moment. "That, actually might be a good idea." Weiss said. "I'm surprised you're the one who came up with it."

Ruby pouted. "I can think to!" She grumbled to herself for a minute. "I'm just as smart as Yang was at this age, maybe _smarter_."

Yang patter Ruby's head, a big sisterly smile on her face. "You've got a bright mind sis. Don't doubt that." Ruby beamed.

"How do you ride a dragon exactly?" Blake asked the rest of the group. Yang looked to Weiss.

"Well, Ruby kind of just carried me in her claws. I was unconscious the first time, so she slipped a little and this happened." Weiss pointed to her scar. "I like it though, a little bit of imperfection I can't be rid of. I rode on her back while she was walking around for a bit, but I'm not sure I could stay on if she were flying." Weiss put a hand to her chin and thought. Maybe they could somehow tie her and Blake to Ruby and Yang's backs? Would a rope even hold against their scales?

It seemed like Ruby was having similar thoughts. "If it comes down to it, maybe we could just get a really big blanket and carry them both like a sack of potatoes." She said.

Where'd she learn that metaphor? Ruby picked up so much knowledge just walking around the town, she must have overheard it from some random persons conversation. Weiss dreaded the day she'd accidentally pick up a cuss word. Ruby screaming the F word would probably send Weiss into cardiac arrest. Weiss shivered visibly at the thought.

"Weiss? You ok?" Ruby asked in a concerned voice.

Weiss was jolted from her thoughts and smiled weakly. "Oh, I'm fine! My mind was just wandering." She waved a hand dismissively. Ruby nodded, but had an air of worry about her. Ahh, that was a mistake.. If Ruby had said something like that to Weiss while looking sad, Weiss would surly overthink it and have it weigh on her mind all day. Would Ruby do the same? Weiss hoped not, but there was the possibility that with the more human Ruby learned to be, the more worried she'd become over things she used to be fine with.

They ate, and returned to Weiss and Ruby's room. Yang and Blake went out to go buy some sort of sack like blanket or something (they were going with Ruby's sack carry plan, it seemed the safest) and Weiss was confined to her room. They were planning on leaving that night. Ruby was going to go out with Yang and Blake, but changed her mind at the last second.

They sat on the bed next to each other. Ruby mumbled something to herself that Weiss couldn't quite hear, and placed a hand on top of Weiss's. She twirled Weiss's hand around and locked their fingers. Weiss felt her muscles relax at the comfort of Ruby's presence. She'd been so tense lately. Something on Weiss's chest felt warm, and when she reached out to touch it, she discovered it was the necklace. The scale. Weiss looked at Ruby and saw her cheeks were slightly flushed.

What? Hey, heyyyyy, wait no why was Ruby getting embarrassed? Wasn't she the peppy overly confident one? Weiss was supposed to be the awkward one! What on earth could make Ruby embarrassed?!

Weiss tried to make conversation. "S-so, uh, do you think It'll be hard to carry me in a blanket?" Ruby didn't respond. "You said I was light to you before.." Ruby was breathing heavily. Weiss tilted her head. "Ruby? Are you alright?" Weiss nudged her softly.

Ruby shook her head groggily. "It hurts to be alive." She mumbled.

Huh? What was that now? Weiss might have expected that line from Blake, but certainly not Ruby. Weiss looked closer at Ruby. Her face was really red. After putting her free hand on Ruby's forehead, Weiss gasped. "You're burning up!"

Ruby went wide eyed. "Do humans catch on fire if they get to hot?!" She said in a panicked voice, squeezing Weiss's hand tighter.

Weiss covered her mouth and looked away for a second, trying hard not to laugh. A moment later she recomposed herself and looked Ruby in the eyes. "No, I can promise you that. You won't just 'suddenly' catch on fire." Weiss pushed Ruby back and laid her down. "It looks to me like you've go a little fever." Weiss booped Ruby's nose.

Ruby glared at nothing. "What's a feeever?"

Weiss blinked. "Sick. You're sick."

"Sick? Is that a food?"

...Did dragons just, not get sick? Ever? Or maybe somehow Ruby had managed to avoid getting sick her whole dragon life, so no one had explained what It was to her? Uhg. Ruby was ignorant about the most random things. Weiss wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know what a horse was... Actually, they hadn't really come across any horses since they'd met each other. Weiss covered her face and groaned.

"Sorry." Ruby mumbled sadly from her position on the bed.

Weiss gave her a reassuring smile. "It's alright, my mind just wandered again. Being sick is as if, your body is being attacked. It gets weaker, and you need to rest and eat properly to get well again. Although..." Weiss paused for a moment. "I'm not so sure how being sick will affect YOU. After all, you are a dragon."

Ruby sat up quickly. Weiss saw her get dizzy for a second, but then she spoke. "That's it! I never got sick when I was a dragon! If I just turn dragon real quick, I'll go back to normal!" Ruby shouted in triumph.

"Shh! Not so loud! And here? Now?" Weiss waved her hands and tried to push Ruby down again.

Ruby jumped out of bed, wobbly in her foot work. "Yeah! I'm Sure I'll fit in this room! It'll only be for a second!" Ruby changed. Or, at least that's what she tried to do. Instead of becoming a dragon in a puff of smoke, a pitiful spray of thin smoke washed off her. It was like she had only completed the transition partially. Simply put, Ruby still looked human. Apart from a tail, wings, and horns on her head. And her checks had a tiny bit of red scales showing, as if they were patches of some infectious disease. Her arms up to her elbows were covered in scales, her fingers sporting long claws.

"What the _hell?"_ Was the only thing that came out of Weiss's mouth for a minute. She thought back to what Ruby had said in the guild just recently. Something like, 'I'm totally a dragon, look at my claws and tail~!' In a sarcastic way. She now had those exact features.

"This... Has never happened before." Ruby blinked, and looked at her scaly clawed hand. She sneezed, snot dripping from her nose. She went wide eyed a moment later. "Weeeeeiss..?" She said, slight panic in her voice. "I can't change back."

Weiss couldn't help but stare. Ah, the brown dress Weiss had let her use was ruined, wings and tail having torn through it. They'd have to get Ruby some proper clothes later on. Honestly they'd needed to do that for a while, Weiss wasn't sure why they hadn't yet. Ruby sneezed. She sneezed into her sleeve, which Weiss had told her was proper educate before. Weiss was proud for a split second, and then horrified. Unfortunately, Ruby had sneezed fire, and set the sleeve on her left arm on fire. Ruby screamed. "YOU SAID HUMANS COULDN'T CATCH ON FIRE!"

Weiss acted quickly, grabbing a blanket from the bed to snuff out the flame. "Yeah well MOST humans can't breath fire!" Weiss yelled back. "Anything can catch on fire if you throw fire at it! You're a dragon! You should know this!" Weiss beat back the flame, and then took a look at Ruby's arm. It was burned. Weiss hoped that Ruby's super dragon healing would kick in soon, but for the moment, she blew softly on the burn. Ruby whimpered, obviously not used to getting burned from her own flames. Scales would protect her from that normally, but the only parts of her that had scales now were her lower arms and a little of her face. The rest was squishy human flesh.

Weiss was at an impasse. That kidnapper from the night before would certainly be back. They couldn't have them seeing Ruby like this! Ruby needed to sneeze again. This time she sneezed into her hands, which meant the scales negated it. Handy. Ruby lied down on her side, wiping her snot on the arm of the brown dress that wasn't burnt to a crisp. "Ewww no don't do that..!" Weiss complained, shoving a handkerchief in Ruby's face while avoiding looking directly at the dribbling coming from her nose.

"Weiss I think I'm dying." Ruby said, her voice muffled by her now audibly stuffy nose. She blew her nose.

Weiss sat next to Ruby and patted her head. "No, you're just sick. It'll go away in a few days." Weiss silently hoped that Yang and Blake would be back soon. Perhaps Yang would know what to do for Ruby, being a dragon herself. It was worth a shot.

The door to their room opened. Oh good, were the back? Weiss saw the person's hand first, wearing a brown glove, and realized it was neither Yang nor Blake. In a split second decision, Weiss tossed a blanket over Ruby, covering her. Ruby groaned softly but didn't move.

A girl Weiss had never seen walked in. She had very orange hair. Her eyes widened at seeing Weiss and the blanket lump that was Ruby. "Oh! So sorry! People usually aren't in around now, so they have us clean. Your room isn't ever really messy, thanks for that." The girl smiled.

"H-Hi." Weiss choked out.

The girl looked at the Ruby blanket pile. "Is your friend alright?"

Weiss nodded vigorously. "FiNe! ShE's FiNe!" Weiss's voice cracked.

The girl nodded slowly. "I'm Nora. What's your name? You're listed under 'not-suspicious traveler 2' so I was always a bit curious about who you were."

Dangit Yang! Couldn't you have picked something less conspicuous?! "I'm Weiss. This is Ruby. She's sick right now, so, you shouldn't come in."

Nora's eyes looked Weiss up and down. "Weiss, huh?" She said in an interested tone. Weiss could have sworn she saw a devilish smile cross Nora's lips for a second. "Nice to meet ya!" Nora chirped. Weiss made extra sure that Ruby wouldn't move suddenly and reveal her dragoness to Nora by accident. "What brought you here? Traveling I'd assume?" Nora made pleasant conversation.

"Sorry, could we talk later? I need to look after my friend." Weiss said, her apprehension showing.

Nora got the message, and nodded. "Right, right. Sorry to bother you! But I'd love to chat later if you have the chance! Just call me if you need a cool towel for her forehead or something." Nora waved a hand and shut the door, locking it as she left. Oh, that was nice of her.

And now, Weiss was left to wait with Ruby until Yang and Blake returned. Ruby sneezed in her sleep, burning a hole through the blanket she was under… Oh dear.


	20. Wish for a mundane life

"What the _hell?!"_ was the first thing Weiss heard when Blake unlocked the door and stepped into the room. Yang poked a head in right after, and her happy face melted into a pool of frustration.

"Nooo..! Ruby!" Yang mime strangled her from across the room.

"So I'm assuming you know what this is?" Weiss covered Ruby's mouth with a charred blanket, and a sneeze from Ruby sounded. Weiss pulled back the now smoldering charred blanket husk, batting down the embers. "Because I'd LOVE IT if someone else could take over fire duty. She'd have burned this whole room down if it weren't for me."

Yang rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, I just hung out in a cave till mine wore off. Caves aren't very flammable. Wooden houses are." Yang took what was left of the blanket and sat in the chair Weiss had been in a moment before, watching Ruby carefully.

"Going off of what Weiss said.. You know what this is?" Blake asked, dragging a chair over next to Yang. Weiss took a seat on the bed by Ruby's feet.

"Yeah. Basically. Dragons can't get sick. But.." Yang paused. "Humans can. So if we get sick in human form, and try to change back, ittttt doesn't go over so well." Yang caught one of Ruby's sneezes in the blanket. "Even I wasn't sneezing this much! Or maybe I was, I don't remember that well. I was alone, after all." Yang thought out loud.

"So you were all half dragony too?" Weiss asked, poking Ruby's foot through the blanket. Ruby fidgeted, feeling ticklish in her sleep.

"Oh yeah. Except, when it happened to me my legs were also affected. Ruby only seems to have it in her arms and face." Yang observed, pulling up the blanket covering Ruby for a moment.

"And the wings, horns, and tail." Weiss tacked on.

"Those are a given, they'll always happen. The rest is just random. My uncle said he just became a full on human sized dragon when it happened to him." Yang wave a hand dismissively.

"But dragons are immune to sickness, you said? That doesn't transfer over to your human form?" Blake said, after having gone over her thoughts a few moments.

"Yeah, it doesn't. Its weird how some things do and some don't. Maybe its so we're more authentic as humans? But then again, we've kinda got extra strength and enhanced healing, so that already makes us obviously non human. And don't ask why the healing doesn't work on sickness, honestly, I have NO idea. Maybe it only works on physical wounds? Its like our biology is on drugs and just tosses out facts at random."

"Sounds inconvenient." Blake leaned against Yang.

"Trust me, it is." Yang reached over and gently fluffed her sisters hair. Ruby's eyes fluttered open, and she sat up in a panic.

"Ah! Wha?" She looked and saw Her sister and the rest surrounding her, and calmed down a bit. "Oh. I thoubht that girl from earlier caame back." Ruby shook her head dizzily.

"Girl from earlier?" Blake looked at Weiss.

"Some peppy girl named Nora. She said she was supposed to clean the room while we were gone, but since we were here, she just talked for a little and then left. She didn't see Ruby." Weiss added that last part as she saw Yang's face growing concerned.

"Did this place have people cleaning during the day?" Blake wondered out loud. It must have, Weiss thought, how else would Nora have had a key to their room? If she were a thief or something she'd have been more surprised they were still there.

Ruby scratched at her cheek, it making an irritating screeching sound as her claws scraped the semi formed scales. Blake covered her bow with her hands and her human ears with her arms, glaring at Ruby. Ruby squeaked softly and stopped at feeling the overwhelming pressure from Blake's look. "..please don't do that again." Blake said. Ruby nodded.

Yang folded her arms, leaning back into her chair. "This reeealy puts a damper on our whole 'fly to the next city' plan." Ruby sneezed into her hands, reliving Yang of fire duty.

"I'm sorry.." Ruby mumbled sadly. Her wings drooped.

"You can't always control if you get sick or not. Its not your fault, cheer up!" Weiss comforted her.

"No wait, wait, how did she get sick in the first place?" Yang asked no one in particular. "We can get sick, but its pretty hard to. Ruby?" Yang looked at Ruby. "Have you eaten anything weird lately? Or, slept with the window open?"

Ruby tilted her head. "Not that I can remember?"

Weiss recalled the window being open just a crack the night before.. But, it was just for a little while. Not enough to get Ruby sick. Yang continued grilling Ruby on possible ways she could have gotten sick, in a rather big sisterly tone.

Weiss Wanted to do something nice for Ruby.. It was never fun being sick. "Want me to go out and get you something sweet?" She interrupted Yang for a moment.

Rubys wings perked up and her tail wagged slightly. She nodded enthusiastically before sneezing into her hands again. "Uuhhg. My nose.." She groaned, pulling back her hands that were slimy with snot. Yang gagged and let her use another blanket as a tissue. Oof. They were gonna have to leave some extra cash or somthing here when they left, consedering how they'd burned one blanket to a crisp and were currently covering another in snot. Blehg.

Weiss stretched and stood, walking to the door. Blake folowed her. "I'll come to." She said.

"I'll be alright, you can stay with Yang." Weiss smiled at her.

"Will you now?" Blake raised an eyebrow. Ah. Yeah, maybe it wouldn't be so wise for Weiss to go out on her own when she had 4 stalkers. Good call Blake!

Weiss cleared her throat and glanced away shyly. "Maybe I'll, take you up on that offer."

They made sure to lock the door on their way out, and started for the market place after leaving the inn. Blake walked with her hands in her pockets, exuding a cool calm aura. Weiss wondered what sort of vibes she herself was showing. But she didn't ask. Blake glanced over at Weiss while she was thinking. "'Something sweet' you said. Have anything in mind?"

"Well, I was going to go for a caremel apple.. But if she's sick, that might just hurt her throat. We need somthing throat calming." Weiss thought out loud.

Blake nodded, and they walked in silence a little more. "How'd it go?" She asked.

"hm?"

"Your day out yesterday. First quest together, first day together. How'd it go?"

"Oh! Nice, very nice! We got the quest done, flew around a bit, and layed in the grass together.. But, I don't think it would have gone any difrently even if we hadn't been girlfriends. ...Did I do something wrong?" Weiss accidentally said that last part outloud without realizing it.

Blake let out a small laugh. "Yeah, that's the thing. Sometimes it really ISN'T much different from normal. You don't need feel like you have to make everything extra special now that you're 'official' or whatever. Just being together is special enough sometimes." Blake looked up at the sky and continued. "Take my advice with a grain of salt by the way, I have no idea what I'm saying."

It was Weiss's turn to laugh. "Don't worry, I think I got the message." Yeah. Weiss didn't need to constantly try extra hard or anything. Yesterday was so fun, and she didn't want to remember it any other way. Weiss and Ruby would take it slow, and if things happened, they happened. Weiss felt a small twinge in her heart, making her want to speed up her little shopping trip and get back to Ruby.

Weiss spied a cart selling honey in the market. She remembered Klein giving her warm bread with honey when she sick as a child. "That! Perfect!" She pointed, and pulled Blake over. "Oh.." Weiss said when they got closer. There were lots of different honeys. Some red, some golden, some almost clear... Klein or the maids had always prepared her meals for her back home, so she had no idea what version of honey she'd become acustomed to. It was probably some super expensive brand she'd never find out here.

Blake plucked out a tiny jar from the mess of options, and handed over some coins. "I'll buy." She said.

"Oh no its alright I can–" Weiss tried to say, but Blake pressed a finger to Weiss's lips.

"I know we're the same age, but I'd say I'm probably more experienced in street things. It'd atract the wrong crowd if you accidentally fumbled with gold coins while trying to buy honey." Blake stroed off, glancing back to make sure Weiss was folowing.

Weiss wanted to retort back, but to be honest, she probably WOULD have fumbled every coin she had before getting the right ones out. She had a lot of them at the moment, because of the quest her and Ruby had finished the day before. Weiss followed Blake. She followed her to another cart, which was selling fresh baked bread, it seemed like Blake had caught on to what Weiss was thinking. Was she a mind reader or something? There were times when Weiss thought she must be.

They returned to the inn. Blake opened the door with the key for the room they'd been given when they first got their rooms, and saw Yang hastily covering Ruby in yet another blanket. She breathed a visible sigh of relief when she saw it was just Weiss and Blake coming back. "Can't be too carful." Yang said, as Ruby tossed the blanket back at her in annoyance with a catlike hiss. Weiss chuckled at her actions.

Ruby saw Weiss was there and tried to pretend she didn't just literally hiss at her sister. "You're back!" She said cheerfully. Cheerfull as she was, Weiss could tell from her voice that her nose was stufy.

Weiss hummed an agreement and nodded, taking a seat on the bed. She excitedly took the still warm bread and spread some honey over it, offering it to Ruby proudly. Or more like shoving it towards Ruby. Weiss was acting almost like a child come home from school, trying to show their parents a clay bowl they'd made in class. Ruby accepted it and immediately took a bite. You could almost see little hearts flying around her as she chewed. She gave Weiss an enthusiastic thumbs up, and Weiss did the same back to her. Blake and Yang were very amused at their cute interaction.

Weiss blushed a little when she remembered her and Ruby weren't the only one's in the room, but Ruby was enjoying the warm honey bread to much to care about anything else at the moment.

"You're gonna need some new clothes sis." Yang huffed, flicking her finger at the tattered dress Ruby was still wearing.

Weiss quickly asked a question she'd been wondering about for weeks. "I was wondering about that, actually, the clothes. Where do they go? When you turn dragon? When Ruby first turned she was naked, but after I put something on her, whenever she went back and forth it would stay on her in human form, but disappear in dragon. How?"

"That–" Yang raised a hand with her finger pointed up. "–Is an excellent question." She pointed the finger at Weiss. "I'll just tell you now though, I have NO idea. Maybe it just gets stored inside us as pure magic energy? Kinda similar to how my arm thing works?" Yang shrugged. Arm thing? What did she mean by tha–

"If it is like that, then would overusing your magic to the point of exhaustion in dragon form use up the essence of the clothes and make them disappear?" Blake asked curiously.

"Aw no don't tell me stuff like that!" Yang clasped her hands together and looked into her lap despairingly. "Noooo now I wanna test it out...!"

Blake smiled and poked Yang's shoulder. "Lets test it together when we don't have a friend with four stalkers on her heels."

Weiss's mood visibly perked up at hearing Blake use the word friend. Ruby had a similar reaction. Yang hid a smile at seeing their reactions and mumbled to herself. "So simple~"

"Hey wait..." Ruby said. Everyone looked at her. "Weren't we planning on leaving tonight? You guys even brought the blankets! Can I leave the room like this? I'm, I feel totally better! So good! But I can't turn back yet!" Ruby explained.

You just remembered that now? Weiss thought a moment, then went and picked up Ruby's red cloak from across the room to wrap it around Ruby. "If you keep your arms in, and are very carful about the position of your wings and tail... And maybe also keep your head down a little, you could probably walk around like that. At least enough to leave the room I think." Weiss observed, fidgeting and fussing around Ruby's cloak. Ruby sneezed fire again. She just narrowly avoided getting it on the cloak. "Shoot. forgot about that." Weiss cursed the fire sneeze, taking Rubys treasured cloak back to a safe distance. "No one just sneezes fire naturally!"

Yang raised a hand. "I do."

"What?"

"I do. I sneeze fire. Weather I'm sick or not. I usually tell people it's because I'm a 'fire mage'." Yang said. Weiss stared at her. She didn't recall seeing Yang sneeze since she'd met her... "I'm just more fire oriented then most dragons." Yang shrugged. "It crosses over to my human form I guess. Our biology is on drugs, remember."

"She almost burned my face off the first night we slept in the same room together." Blake grimaced.

"Nothing I do is ever going to get you over that, is it?" Yang glared slightly in a playful manner at Blake. Blake stuck her tongue out at Yang.

"Ok but, back on topic. Could Yang carry all three of us?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, but I don't think we want miss fire sneeze wrapped up in a blanket with two flammable people." Yang folded her arms and thought hard.

"The way I see it, we've got two options." Blake said. "Either we wait out Ruby's sickness, which could take anywhere from a few days to 2 weeks, or we have Yang and Weiss go ahead, and me and Ruby catch up later." Blake looked at around. "What do you guys think?"

Ruby spoke up quickly. "You should go Weiss!"

What? Weiss looked at Ruby, her chest tightening. Did Ruby, not want her here..?


	21. We know your secret

Yang bonked Ruby on the back of the head. "Don't say it like that! She's definitely gonna get the wrong idea!" She scolded.

"Mmm!" Ruby pouted, realized what Yang meant, then turned back to Weiss. "Wait I mean uh I I want you safe! Yang is a good protector and she she'll do it good! Protecting you! If you need it!" Ruby nodded enthusiastically and tried to look serious. Her serious face slowly drooped into a sadder expression. "I want you to stay with me.. But, if you staying here gets you hurt, I don't, I.." Ruby rubbed her nose against the snot covered blanket next to her, tears forming in her eyes. "Heheh..." Ruby let out a small laugh. She sneezed into her hands, and laughed some more. Soon enough she was laughing and giggling like a maniac, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Weiss and Yang knew what was going on for the most part, so they just stood and backed up a little, watching silently as the waited for her to calm down. Blake kept whipping her head back and forth between Ruby and the other two, as if questioning their sanity at viewing this as even semi 'normal'.

"Her emotions are kinda, broken sometimes. Don't worry about it." Yang whispered at Blake. Blake nodded slowly, moving to the other side of the room where Weiss and Yang had migrated to while keeping her eyes fixated on Ruby.

Ruby was still in the middle of nearly screaming with laughter, when she abruptly stooped. "Huh. That was longer then usual." She said, wiping her eyes dry.

Weiss gingerly approached her. "You ok..?"

Ruby nodded. "Sometimes my sadness turns to laughing." she said softly. Weiss leaned down and hugged her.

"You don't really want me to leave?" Weiss asked gently. Ruby shook her head, looking away. "Well good. Because I don't want to leave you either. I'll stay by your side until you're all better, ok?" Weiss held Ruby's hand. Ruby's cheeks flushed a little more then they already were from her sickness, and she nodded. "It would help if we could diagnosis you more properly.. Yang?" Weiss turned to Yang. "She's sick, but do you know exactly with what? A cold? The plague? Knowing what would be helpful treatment. We know she has a fever, and a stuffy nose..."

Yang shrugged. "Don't ask me, I know more about rocks then I know about curing sickness's. And I don't know very much about rocks." Ah.. So helpful.. Weiss tuned to Blake. Blake shook her head.

"And I've been cooped up in a castle my whole life, so I barely have basic knowledge on how to treat people.." Weiss stared at Blake intensely, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Its up to you Blake!" She gave a thumbs up.

"Me? Why me?!" Blake raised her hands in front of her as a form of surrender.

"Because we've got a sheltered princess and two dragons who have less then three years of experience being a person in the real world combined. You've got like 15 years on us all Blake." Yang half smiled as she spoke. Blake looked at the floor in stressed defeat as she realized Yang and Weiss were right.

"I know basic things! Bed rest, honey bread, keeping warm.. Just, nothing about medicine." Weiss told Blake. "What should we give her?"

Blake put a hand to her forehead. "I'm not sure anything would even WORK on her, honestly. She's a dragon, does cold medicine work on dragons?" Blake asked no one in particular.

"We're asking you!" Weiss said.

"I'm no dragon expert! Ahhhhg ok lets, lets me and Yang go out and see what we can scrape up. Weiss, guard Ruby." Blake sighed. "I JUST got back too.. This is like the third time I'm going on an errand today." Blake and Yang left, locking the door behind them.

The silence that fell over the room was deafening. Weiss sat at the foot of the bed, thinking to herself again. She was glad that Ruby hadn't meant anything like 'I don't want you around right now', but.. For a split second, that WAS what she thought she'd meant. And for that split second Weiss's entire being had overwhelmed by a numbing wave of despair. That feeling had come from just thinking that the person she loved didn't want her around? Oh. Oh NO. Had Ruby felt that way when Weiss had left? Back when Blake first showed up? That must've been awful! That split second despair Weiss had had, would have been festering and growing inside of Ruby for an entire day, almost two days..!

Weiss turned to Ruby to apologize, but Ruby was fast asleep. Weiss looked at her. Her breathing was still labored, her face red. Weiss wished she could just take the sickness out of her and suffer through it herself.. If only, if only. Weiss noticed something poking her leg, and discovered Ruby's tail. She took it in her hands gently, feeling the texture of its tiny scales. The necklace she had on was a tail scale, Weiss remembered with a smile. Ruby's tail wiggled in her sleep, squirming out if Weiss's grasp. Weiss played a little game with it for a bit, a game she called 'see how long you can hold the tail before it wiggles out of you grasp'. Weiss wasn't very good at naming games.

Since Ruby's tail started getting a little agitated, Weiss stopped the game and left her be. There wasn't really anything she could do. Normally when Ruby was awake, the time seemed to fly by. But with her sick, obviously in pain, the minuets felt like hours. What could she do to pass the time? Strange.. This was the first time she'd felt board since she'd run away from home all those weeks ago.

Weiss sighed, looking up at the ceiling. This was indeed a familiar feeling. She closed her eyes, and began singing softly. Weiss hadn't sung in so long. She let the words flow out of her mouth, her memory taking over and knowing exactly how to place every note without her even having to think. This was her favorite song, one that she'd wrote. Her father had allowed her to sing it sometimes at concerts. That was her thing, back home. Winter was the future ruler who wanted to be a knight, Weiss was the musically gifted one, and her brother was.. What was he? Weiss felt like he'd never really liked her. She didn't see him that often at home.

Home. Weiss didn't have a home anymore, did she? Her thoughts spiraled downwards, sinking her ever deeper into darkness. That darkness was short lived however, as the sight of Ruby smiling in her sleep to the song Weiss was singing warmed her heart.

* * *

Since Ruby couldn't really leave the room in her current condition, Weiss, Yang, And Blake stayed with her. At all times someone was with Ruby, and the other two would go out. Weiss was Rubys girlfriend, and Yang was her sister, so they had a grand enough time alone with her. Blake on the other hand was a little more awkward. But Ruby soon warmed up to her when she learned how much Blake read. When Blake and Ruby were alone together, Blake would just read whatever she was currently reading out loud to Ruby, after giving her a quick run down of what had happened in the book before. That system worked perfectly. Blake also taught Ruby a few card games.

And there they spent a week. Ruby got worse first, but then started recovering. Blake and Yang went out and did a quest to get some more blanket funds, as they discovered that Rubys snot was SUPER flammable the first time Yang tried to use a blanket Ruby had blown her nose on as a way to catch her fire sleep sneeze.

Henry showed up at the inn every other day, asking Weiss If she wanted to go out somewhere. She declined each time, and yet he still kept coming. Weiss had somehow avoided letting him know which room she was staying in, the last thing she needed was him accidentally barging in on her and sick dragon Ruby. She still hadn't told him she was dating Ruby. A girl. She wasn't sure how he'd react, people could be unpredictable sometimes. She wanted to be sure they could leave at a moments notice before she told him, in case he wanted revenge or something on her or Ruby. It had happened to her before when she turned guys down back at the castle, while most accepted her rejection, some got so mad about it that they had actively tried to harm her. That was the main reason Winter had allowed her to train with the sword, really.

Henry aside, Weiss was still being followed by three people, but none of them made a move on her again. It just made her all the more anxious. Blake and Yang figured that the reason Weiss was ok, was because she was always with another person. As long as she wasn't alone, she was fine. So when Nora asked Weiss if she'd like to go shopping around town, Weiss took her up on the offer. Weiss had seen Nora from time to time, and chatted with her a bit throughout the week. Nora was a bit eccentric at times, but all around a good person.

Nora took Weiss window shopping essentially. They browsed the market stalls together and stopped whenever something caught their eye. "So, you dating anyone?" Nora asked cheerfully, examining some sort of metal rod at a cart carefully.

Weiss almost choked on her own spit when she heard Nora ask that, but was able to stay composed. She didn't answer yet. Weiss hadn't really gaged Nora's level of gay tolerance yet? She seemed like an accepting person, but you could never be to carful. "Yes.." She said.

"Ohh really~? What are they like?" Nora said in a teasing tone, as she bought the weird metal rod from the cart.

They, she used the word they. Was that a coincidence? Was she being considerate? Or was this a trap? Weiss didn't have people skills! She couldn't tell! "They're cute. And, a little weird, but they mean well." Nora stared at Weiss for a moment. It was like she was prying into Weiss's soul. "Whaaaat about you? Anyone you like?" Weiss tried to shift the spotlight off herself.

Nora blushed lightly. "Yeah, there's a guy I've been in love with for ages. I don't think we ever officially stated we were dating? But someone tried flirting with me once and he called me his girlfriend, so its basically happening~" Nora disappeared into a memory in her head for a second, and they pointed at Weiss. "Hey! I asked you first! You're good.." Nora squinted at Weiss. She then laughed to herself, and asked another question as they walked. "Is the person you're with a girl or a guy?" Weiss stayed silent. Nora smiled kindly "Its fine if its a girl, I won't judge." Nora waved a hand dismissively.

Weiss nodded, keeping silent for a little while longer. She felt herself blush, and covered her face. "She's just, so cute... Her very existence is pure cuteness!" Weiss felt her voice squeak a little on the last word.

Nora put a hand on Weiss's back. "You're head over heels for her, aren'tcha? I bet she thinks you're pretty cute too~!" Weiss kept her face covered, letting Nora's hand on her back guide her through the market place. "Hey.. Could I talk to you about something?" Weiss tensed up and lowered her hands. "No! No, not about lovey stuff this time. Something else. I know a quiet place, wanna go?" Nora

Weiss didn't see why not, so she agreed. Nora led her about the city, in a rather round about way. Through dark alleys, back to the crowded streets, in and out of a few secret passages Weiss didn't even know existed. "Where are we going again?" Weiss asked after they'd gone through the fifth dark creepy alley.

"We're almost there!" Nora told her.

They eventually arrived in a little wooden room. How they got there, Weiss couldn't tell you. After the 4th secret door they'd entered from a random point on the street, Weiss's already bad sense of direction had just plain concked out. The room was no bigger then the inn room Weiss and Ruby shared, but it had a creepy feel to it. Weiss didn't notice, but she was holding the hem of Nora's skirt tightly as a form of security. Nora gently brushed her hand off, and went to a door at the end of the room.

Weiss's mind was starting to go into overdrive. She was in a strange place, with a strange girl she had met less then 2 weeks ago. Last time she met some strange girl by chance, she'd ended up dating her. Ruby. But Nora was... Weiss didn't even know. She started imagining things, dark things. What if Nora knew who she was? Could this be a kidnapping? Was she in cahoot's with the ninja? WAS she the ninja? Weiss's mind kept spiraling deeper into such thoughts, making her so panicked that she got into position ready to draw her sword. She was glad Yang and Blake had made her take it.

Nora let someone in through the door. Weiss looked them over. A tall long haired guy with a streak of pink in his hair. Oh, he really pulled off that look well. Weiss glanced at Nora, and judging from how she was acting, this person was Nora's 'boyfriend'. Weiss relaxed a little. Maybe, Nora's boyfriend was some wanted war criminal and couldn't go out in public, making Nora have to bring people she wanted to introduce him to that weird way they'd taken to get here.

Weiss was semi relaxed, but still, she wondered. Hadn't Nora said that whatever she wanted to talk about wasn't love related? What could it be then, if it involved her boyfriend?

Nora pointed a finger gun at Weiss "You're thinking he's my boyfriend, aren't you?"

"Oh, sorry if he's not, I–"

"No! You're right! Ren is definitely mine! Do we really look that couple like? Aww~!" Nora smiled and hugged the guys arm. He looked to the side, and Weiss noticed a tiny blush on his face for a second. Aw, he's shy.

Ren cleared his throat and spoke"I wanted to apologize." Weiss tilted her head.

"For, what exactly?" Had Weiss met him before? She didn't think so? She'd definitely have remembered someone with a streak of pink in their hair. She'd have felt a sort of kinship, a 'we both have stupidly noticeable hair in a crowd' kinship.

Nora held his hand behind his back, giving him courage. Weiss pretended not to see. This whole situation was really starting to confuse her, but seeing another girl happy with the one she loved really warned Weiss heart. "For my.. Failed attempt at first contact."

"Please don't run away!" Nora blurted out. "Just hear us out first!"

Run away? Why would Weiss do that? She didn't she'd get far even if she did, that way Nora had brought her was like a maze, and Ren was blocking the only other exit.

Ren approached Weiss, and set a hand gently on her shoulder. All her fear washed away, and she was filled with a sense of calm. Wait... Wasn't that the same thing as..? Ren let go, and a flash of color reentered Weiss's vision. "You're the ninja?!" Weiss reached for her sword.

"Ninja?" Ren asked casually.

"Pleeeeeeease don't leave I promise we're not going to do anything to you..! That first plan was a bad idea I'll admit it!" Nora begged Weiss.

Weiss didn't move, but kept her hand on her sword. "...speak."

"Alright. So. We know your secret." Nora said, pressing her hands together.

* * *

 **Authors note: hi yeah I'm inconsistent as hell sry. I do either 15+ chapters in the span of three months or 1 chapter in the span of 8 months. Theres really no inbetween.**


	22. As sneaky as a puppy with a tambourine

"Alright. So. We know your secret." Nora said, pressing her hands together. Weiss tensed up, trying with all her might to keep herself from bolting back into that maze like passage. "Yes, I'm sorry, but we do know. There's someone tracking you, and WE need to catch THEM." Nora pointed at herself and Ren for dramatic effect.

Someone tracking her? Well, stalking and tracking were basically interchangeable. So it was either stalker number 1, or number 2, Weiss figured, since Henry had been number 4 and it now turned out that Nora's boyfriend Ren was number 3.

"The original plan was for Ren to bring you over when you were half asleep, but that failed spectacularly, so I snuck into the inn and stole a key instead." Nora explained.

"You don't work there!?" Weiss exclaimed.

Nora gave her a confused look. "You didn't even check? They don't have people cleaning the rooms there! That'd be an invasion of privacy! Oh my god I feel so bad. You're so trusting." Nora looked away guiltily.

"How would I know that?! You said you know my secret, you should know I haven't been out in the real world much!" Weiss held back the urge to pout.

Nora winced. "Yeah, a dragon wouldn't get out much, huh?"

Wait, wait. ...Dragon?

Weiss blinked "Dragon?"

"We know you can change to human form. We haven't told anyone, you're fine." Ren assured.

Wha, no, no! That wasn't the secret! A dragon? A dragon?! Why on earth did they think she was a dragon!? So, her princess secret was safe but still, WHY did they think she was a dragon? Oh no, could they have been tracking Ruby, but mistaken Weiss for the dragon? "Why do you... Think that?" Weiss asked, trying to stay calm.

Nora took out what looked like an oddly shaped compass. "We've got a dragon tracker." What. "It points toward the nearest dragon, and it points towards you." WHAT. "See?" Nora showed her. Weiss moved to the left, then right, and the needle moved as well. Why did it point at her? What part of her was dra– oh. A thought occurred to her.. Weiss took off her scale necklace. She discretely moved her closed palm with it inside around, and the needle followed it. Nora and Ren gave her odd looks, but didn't say anything. Ah, so it wasn't a dragon tracker, it just followed the magic signature of dragon scales or something.

Wasn't Ruby covered in scales on her arms right now? Also, Nora was being pretty trusting with her scale compass. She must have had more, or they must not have been very hard to find if she was fine with showing the person she thought was a dragon the compass. Or perhaps Nora was just not very guarded in some ways. Weiss had another scary thought. Nora and Ren wanted to catch someone that was 'tracking' Weiss. Did they mean–

"A dragon hunter." Ren said. "A dragon hunter is trying to catch you. You haven't slipped up yet, but if you do, they'll jump out of the woodwork and steal you away in a second."

Oh god. Weiss, Weiss needed to get back to the inn NOW. To make sure Ruby was safe. Should she try to clear up the misunderstanding Nora had about her being a dragon..? "I'm not, actually a dragon, uh..." Should she tell them about the scale? "It's not me." Wait no shoot don't elude to a dragon still being here–

Nora raised an eyebrow. "Not you? Then who?" She said in rhyme. Weiss looked to the side, staying stone faced. "Is it someone you're traveling with?" Weiss turned away. "Are there more than one?" Weiss turned away even more. "Is it your girlfriend?" Weiss had fully turned around now, and let her panic show on her face because Nora and Ren couldn't see it. Ren taped Nora's shoulder, motioning for her to tone it down. "Ah, sorry, I wasn't trying to bombard you with questions. Weather or not you're a 'dragon' doesn't really matter, what matters is that the dragon tracker wants to get you. So you can be used as bait." Nora gave a thumbs up.

Weiss's panic left her at that statement, and she turned gave Nora a condescending look, her cold princess persona showing through just a bit "Is that really something you should ask someone you think is a dragon?"

Nora shrugged, and Ren face palmed. "Nora, shouldn't you reassure her?" Ren said.

"Huh?" Nora tilted her head.

"Reassure her that you're actually friends and you weren't just using her."

"Oh!" Nora gasped. "That's right! I'm so sorry if it came across that way! I did MEET you because I wanted to ask you to be bait, but you're a fun person so I liked hanging out with you! If I didn't like you I'd have just knocked you out in a dark alley and dragged you here."

Ah. That hadn't even occurred to Weiss, that Nora might have been using her. The whole 'I know you're a dragon' thing had been a bit of a distraction. And it wasn't like she wasn't used to being used, her father viewed her as nothing more then a piece on his political chessboard. Was it that much if a bad thing to be used? "Its fine." Weiss said. "I don't mind."

"Um excuse me? What was that?" Nora held a hand up to her ear, miming not being able to hear. "No one should ever just be used and tossed aside! Who hurt you! I'll break their legs!" Nora pumped a fist in the air.

Weiss laughed a little, making Nora smile. "It's getting late." Nora said, looking at a window near the top of the room. She was right. There was no light coming in from that window anymore.

"So, how is this going down? Am I a hostage right now?" Weiss asked, rather calmly for someone asking if they were a hostage.

"No! No, we're just talking." Nora shook her head. "We just think it'd be better to catch the guy before he makes off with you, and you could help speed that up." She paused "Plus, don't think holding a dragon hostage would be a good idea. Even if you deny it, I've found it wise to trust the dragon compass when it tells us there's a dragon, so.."

"Why do you even want to catch this guy?" Weiss wondered out loud.

Nora casually told her. "Oh, he's just wanted for the murder of 26 well-known people in the last year. Probably more in the shadows too."

* * *

After their discussion, Nora had led Weiss out back to the streets so Weiss could dash off back to the inn. Somehow while talking to Nora, she'd let her guard down and forgotten about wanting to rush back to see if Ruby was alright. Weiss mentally kicked herself at making such a mistake. In fact, she was so worried about Ruby, that she just ran. Ran back to the inn, in the dark, at night, alone. It wasn't her greatest move. Anyone with eyes watching her would have seen exactly what inn she ran to.

Luckily, Weiss somehow avoided running into any drunkards or kidnappers. She payed no mind to her surroundings as she speed walked into the inn and up the stairs, barging into the room her and Ruby shared. Ruby, sitting up in bed next to Blake, jolted and just barely covered her mouth before letting out a burst of surprised flame.

"Door!" Blake hissed at Weiss. Weiss fumbled and shut the door behind her. She turned back to Ruby and Blake, seeing what they were doing. Ruby had a deck of cards layed out in front of her. For a few moments, the only sound that could be heard was Weiss's breathless panting.

"We're playing marge gone!" Ruby said, breaking the tense silence.

"Marjon." Blake corrected. She looked Weiss over, noticing how winded she seemed. "Did your hang out go sour?" She tilted her head.

Weiss put a hand to her face and sunk to the floor in relief, her back pressed against the door. "No, its fine." She said. "Nora's great. The ninja's her boyfriend. We might have to have another discussion when Yang gets back."

"Sounds complicated." Ruby said, crawling away from her game to the edge of the bed. Her tail raised, perking up curiously as she stared at Weiss. "Do you wanna sit with me?" She asked.

Weiss nodded, stumbling over to Ruby and flopping onto the bed. Ruby pulled her close, letting her head rest on her lap. Weiss felt all tension leave her body. Ruby was safe, Blake was safe, Yang would punch the everliving crap out of anyone who even looked at her wrong so she was probably fine. Weiss probably didn't need to worry. She'd tell them about the things she'd learned later. For now? She just wanted to sleep. Ruby brought her wings around front, giving Weiss a little cave around her upper body that provided shelter from the light of the room. She could almost see through the soft membrane of the wings. She'd never really gotten this close a look at them when Ruby was fully a dragon. And they were so small right now. Weiss gently stroked one with a finger, watching the tiny veins twitch as Ruby shifted her position at the tickly touch. Weiss closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She slept.

* * *

Waking up was awful. Waking up was always awful, but Weiss powered through it. She blearily opened an eye. She noticed that Ruby wasn't on the bed. Weiss glanced around the room, seeing Ruby near the door. What was she doing there? She had on her red cloak, and...

Ruby opened the door and slipped out silently. It took a moment for Weiss to register what was going on. Ruby was going out? While she was still in her weird semi dragon form? Sure, keeping anyone cooped up in a single room this long would make them go stir crazy, but, why didn't she tell Weiss?! Weiss was soft! Ruby could have easily broken down any resistance and convinced Weiss to let Ruby go outside with her!

Weiss stumbled out of bed, got dressed as quickly as she could, and ran out of the room. She tripped into someone as soon as she left. Nora.

"Oof!" Nora let out all the air in her lungs as Weiss accidentally pummeled her to the floor.

Weiss didn't have time to talk, she'd wasted to much time already just changing her clothes. "Be back later, gotta go!" She yelped back at the fallen Nora as she sped away. When Weiss got outside, she froze. Which way had Ruby gone? There was no way for her to tell. She frantically turned her head every which way, trying to catch even a glimpse of the red hooded girl.

Nothing.

She was gone, and Weiss was starting to panic. What could she do? Why had Ruby even left? Why had she snuck out so silently? So many questions, so little answers. Weiss stopped herself from imploding, and slapped her cheeks. Calm down. Don't overreact. Ruby's a smart girl, she'd at least have a reason for leaving like that. And she'll be carful, all you have to do, is ask around for people that've seen the red cloak. Ok. Ok! Weiss finished talking herself though her next move, and went to initiate her plan by asking a random person if they'd seen Ruby.

She approached a random person, and asked. They hadn't seen anyone in a red cloak around. Weiss asked multiple people, and still no one had said they saw Ruby. Was Ruby that good at hiding in plain sight? It was a ruby red cloak! How could anyone miss that?! Unless... A sudden thought donned on Weiss. She hadn't seen which way Ruby went. In fact, she hadn't see her leave the building at all. Could she still be back at the inn?

Well, it was worth a shot at least. Weiss hurried back, scaring the innkeeper when she burst into the doors and ran around back. there was indeed a back door. And it was slightly ajar. Weiss pushed it all the way open, and saw a large mud puddle off to the side. Clear footprints from said mud puddle lead off towards the marketplace. Ruby was a smart girl, but also an idiot at times, Weiss thought as she followed the trail. When the mud footprints stopped, Weiss could still see the path Ruby had taken. Trampled grass, indents in the ground from someone falling over, claw marks on random trees or fence posts... Weiss was wondering how she'd ever thought this girl could be sneaky.

When Ruby finally came into Weiss's vision, Weiss almost fainted with relief. Ruby was standing in front of a cart that was selling something. She was awkwardly using her cloak to hold something, as not to let anyone see her hands. Weiss strode over and stood next to Ruby. "Hi." Weiss said, with gritted teeth.

Ruby jolted, and gave Weiss a glance before avoiding eye contact. "... Oh! Hi Weiss! I was just, ah, getting something..." Weiss lowered her eyes to what was in Ruby's hands. What had been so important for her to get that she'd risk her safety like this? Ruby was holding a jar of honey. What? "Don't be mad, I'm, I'm basically better, I just can't turn back yet!" Ruby said hastily.

Weiss didn't know what to say. She wanted to strangle Ruby right there on the spot, but at the same time she wanted to hug her and never let her go again. "You fell." Weiss said flatly. Ruby's cloak had some muddy grass stains, probably from the flattened patch of grass Weiss had seen while following Ruby's trail.

"Oh. Yes, yeah I did." Ruby and Weiss stood in an awkward silence until the honey cart owner shooed them away.

Weiss and Ruby left, and sat together on a familiar bench in an area almost devoid of people after they left the cart. Weiss recognized it as the same bench she had GIVEN Ruby the cloak on. She smiled at the memory. "Weiss? Are you mad?" Ruby asked, her eyes hidden by the red hood.

Weiss leaned forward and rested arms on her own lap, and her chin on her hand. She gazed at Ruby softly. "No, I'm not. Just worried. You're like a puppy."

Ruby huffed. "If I'm a puppy, then you're a... A squirrel!"

Weiss blinked. "Huh?"

"You're really paranoid and try to keep everything important super close, or push it all away. Like with me. I've seen squirrels before! They either abandon their food at the tiniest sound, or fight to the death to keep it!" Ruby paused. "They also like having their head and ears scratched. You like that too."

What? "Since when do I like that?!" Weiss spluttered, loosing her composure for a moment at Ruby's distracting comment

Weiss saw a smile creep upon Ruby's lips, though the hood still covered her eyes. It was a warm smile. "When you're asleep sometimes, I like patting your hair. You're really cute when you snuggle as I pet you!" Ruby chirped. Weiss felt her face burning red. Ruby noticed, and spoke again. "I like petting to! And Yang, and Blake, its nothing to be embarrassed about! Everyone likes to get pet!" Ruby fiddled with the jar of honey in her hands. "You seemed stressed recently.. It made me really happy when you brought me honey bread, so, I wanted to give you some to. Sorry I left without saying."

Weiss leaned against Ruby and rested her head on her shoulder. She was so stressed. And the sooner they go out if this city, the better. It'd be a shame to leave Nora though, Nora was the first human friend her age she'd ever made. Blake was her first faunus friend, Ruby and Yang were her first dragon friends, and Ruby herself was her first girlfriend! So many firsts. Weiss treasured then all.

Ruby absentmindedly tapped her claws against the bench, creating a slow moving rhythm. All was still.


	23. I KNOW its a short chapter stfu

"I hope you realize this is all your fault." Weiss said in a whisper to Ruby, as they tried their best to stay hidden behind a few barrels on the street.

"We can play the blame game all we want but the fact is that YOU fell asleep first!" Ruby hissed back.

"I've had a stressful week!"

"And I've been stuck in the same room for that week, being outside was very tiring!"

Ruby and Weiss quickly held their breath as someone walked by, then glared at each other. After Weiss had found Ruby earlier, the two had sat on a bench and talked a little. Apparently they'd both fallen asleep together, and now had to get back to the inn in the dead of night, which would have been fine normally, but it seemed that they'd fallen asleep in just about the only area that was empty during the day, but became so crowded at night you couldn't even walk straight without bumping into someone.

Just one grab at Ruby's cloak could expose the red scaly arms beneath her hood. Weiss had enough problems already, she still needed to have a chat with everyone about how the ninja wasn't technically a threat anymore. That was the one she'd been most worried about. Weiss scanned the area and saw a chance for escape, a small gap in the crowd that would let them get to the next alley across the way, and tugged Ruby forward. She narrowly avoided some random guy swinging his arms around in a drunken frenzy of... Shadowboxing? Weiss wasn't sure what he was doing. Punching the air.

This was stupid, this was so stupid! Who designed this part of town?! Weiss wanted to punch them in the face!

"Weiss!" Ruby hissed. "Sneeze!"

She had to WHAT now?! Weiss whirled around. If Ruby had to sneeze, she couldn't take out her fireproof scale hands, it would expose them to everyone. But then, she'd just sneeze fire! That could seriously hurt someone! Ruby tilted her head up, and did in fact sneeze a huge puff of fire. The roof of the building she was next to caught some of the flames. Weiss took advantage of the newfound chaos in the area to pull Ruby along even quicker.

Screams sounded and Weiss smelled smoke. She looked back and saw Ruby making a very guilty face. "SORRY!" Ruby yelled back.

"Don't apologize!" Weiss chastised her. The last thing they needed was for someone to corner them in the flames to ask for compensation.

They somehow got out of the flaming mess of buildings, and hid behind another set of barrels by a wall. The smell of smoke was filling the air, and the crackling wood and screams were deafening. Good thing Weiss and Ruby had dashed to the other side of the street. Oh god! Did they just burn down the city?!

Weiss felt Ruby poke her side. She turned, and saw Ruby pointing as a piece of wood she'd moved aside, revealing a small secret passage in the wall they were up against. Weiss had flashbacks to all those weird routes Nora had taken her on the day before, but surely going through a few more would be better then getting caught up in a fire. So they entered.

"It's quiet." Ruby said softly, as she and Weiss stepped further into the passage. It was tall enough for them to stand comfortably after crawling through a foot or two of low ceiling area, but it wasn't wide enough for them to walk side by side. And Ruby was right. It was quiet. No more crackling wood, no yelling voices, just a deep earthy smell and complete silence other then the sound of their own breathing and footsteps. And darkness. After a little while, Weiss couldn't see anymore. It was a good thing Ruby had taken the lead, she had dragon night vision. Lucky. Weiss felt the walls of the passage, and no more did they feel like wood, no, it was more like stone bricks. Or a cave wall?

It reminded Weiss of the secret passages in the castle. She used to use them when she wanted to hide from everyone, and only Klein could find her. She hadn't really been able to process her surroundings when Nora had dragged her along. She let her hands drag against the walls as they walked, getting a feel for them in the darkness. Eventually Ruby and Weiss came upon a split in the path. "There's two ways." Ruby said. She glanced back at Weiss, Weiss barely being able to see her silhouette in the dark. "What should we do?"

Weiss thought. With passages like this, it was easy to get lost, unless you knew the way like Nora. It would be safer for Weiss and Ruby to stick together. But then again, one of the passages might be a dead end. Weiss wanted to get Ruby back to the inn as fast as possible. Maybe, having them both go down a different path for a bit, but then coming back to share which path went which way and how large it was or if it was a dead end would be a good strategy. Yeah. "Ruby, you go down this way. Just until you hit a dead end, or a break in the path again. Ok? I'll take the other way. Make sure to come back here, got it?" Weiss said

"Mmm... Alright." Ruby seemed to dislike the idea of being away from Weiss for to long, but she listened to what she said and followed the order. Weiss and Ruby separated. Weiss listened closely to the sound of Ruby's footsteps, until they softly faded away. If she stood still and held her breath, it was completely silent. Weiss was confused. How did this passage work? Hadn't her and Ruby gone into a building? This was more like a cave! And surely after walking this long, they'd have come out of it? Unless, there was a slight decline. Maybe they'd descended underground. That would explain the unsettling silence.

Weiss shook her head and pressed onwards. After a few minutes of walking she saw a light. A light? A pale light, like the moon. Perhaps a way out. She moved closer to it. There was a tiny crack in the wall letting in moonlight. Weiss pushed at the crack, and a mess of loose stone bricks gave way, opening up into what looked like an empty room. Yes, an empty room with a tiny window letting in moon light at the top.

Her curiosity got the best of her, and Weiss entered the room. There wasn't much to see. Apart from a door at the front of it, but it was closed. What was beyond the door, Weiss wondered?

"HEY!" A strong hand grasped Weiss's arm, making her jolt. She whirled around and came face to face with some guy almost twice as big as her. Sure Weiss was short, just an inch shorter than Ruby (though she'd never admit it) but this guy was HUGE. Also, How? Was he here? "What're you doing here little miss?" He said in a low voice.

"... Just passing through." Weiss's voice came out in a scratchy whisper.

Are you KIDDING ME?! Weiss yelled at herself in her head. Literally, the SECOND she splits up with Ruby, Weiss gets herself into trouble like this! Uhg! Maybe she was the troublesome one, not Ruby. Weiss wanted to leave this town so bad!

And wait, how was this guy here?! Weiss had seen nothing in the room! Nothing! What, did he just go invisibl–… Was… Was this, one of those semblance, things? Ruby had said there were all kinds. Ugh. Why now, of all times? Next time it'll be something even more inconvenient, like someone with fire manipulation or the ability to make you see things that weren't there. That would be just PEACHY!

His grasp was firm on Weiss's arm, so she couldn't get away. Before she could even try to think of an escape plan, the door to the room opened and someone else quietly slipped in. Weiss noticed they had a shadow wolf mask covering their eyes on. They yelped in surprise when they saw Weiss "Is this a set up?! Are you double crossing me?!" They accused.

"No! She busted in through the wall!" The one holding Weiss's arm said while motioning towards the fallen stone bricks.

The one who had just come in sighed. "Well, no witnesses. But let's not waste this. I hear someone wanted an arm in the market." He pulled out a knife.

Had Weiss stumbled upon a secret black market trade deal or something?! Witnesses?! No witnesses to WHAT?! There wasn't even anything here! The larger guy tightened his hold on Weiss and covered her mouth with his hand, and the masked one grabbed her arm, knife glinting in the moonlight.


	24. Remember children, murder is BAD

**WARNING: Blood! Again! This chapter may feature someone getting sliced clean in half! You know that video of the guy slicing water bottles with a katana? Yeah imagine that but like with a person. Yeah. Its real quick tho! Just, letting you know its there in case you really hate that stuff! Also thanks for reading. Love y'all.**

Weiss struggled against the larger guys hold, but it was no use. A wave of fear washed over her, the fear you get when you're stuck in a tight place and can't move. The person in front of her pulled on one of Weiss's arms, holding out a knife. Weiss didn't know what he was planning on doing with said knife, but whatever it was couldn't have been good. The hand of the guy covering her mouth held her a little tighter, covering her nose by accident. Weiss couldn't breath. She kicked and kicked, but still to no avail. Her vision started to blur and the knife touched her forearm.

A spluttering slashing sound graced Weiss's ears. Huh? Something hard crashed onto her side, and she realized she'd been thrown to the ground. Weiss sucked in a deep gulp of air, gasping for breath. A metallic scent filled the room. Weiss shook her head and quickly sat up, trying to get her bearings. She was sitting in something wet.

As her head cleared she was able to see what was happening. Well, ostly. Two figures were fighting not 10 feet away from her. Weiss frantically scrambled back, scooting up to the farthest wall from them. The pale moonlight lit up only patches of the room, making it difficult for Weiss to tell who was winning, much less who they even were. But she could assume that one of them was the person who had just been holding her. But, where was her second captor?

There were two lumps in the opposite corner of the room, Weiss saw. Could they be the second one? But there were two lumps there, not on–... Oh. Oh god! Weiss covered her mouth and stared. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see exactly what those two fallen lumps were. A body sliced straight through the waist into two. Weiss just barely managed not to scream, and a second later flung her hands away from her mouth, wiping them on her clothes. As she expected, the wet feeling that had been on her hands left dark stains. She shuddered at the thought of how messy her face must have been.

A loud crack sounded, as the larger of her two captors fell to the ground with his arm bent an unnatural way. And the one who had made him like that, bathed in silver moonlight, was Ruby. Ruby panted heavily, her red claws dripping a dark liquid Weiss didn't want to admit was blood. The claws started to shrink. Weiss watched in awe as all of Ruby's semi dragon features slowly shrunk into non existence, leaving behind only the cute messy girl Weiss had fallen in love with. Well... At least they had the half dragon sickness thing solved now! Ruby's clothes were torn and soaked red, and the poor girl was exhausted. But she seemed happy. Ruby turned her eyes to Weiss, childish glee shining brighter than the sun ever could.

"YOU'RE OK!" She croaked, her voice cracking halfway through. Ruby threw herself onto Weiss, knocking her down into another puddle of sickly smelling blood. Weiss grimaced, but wrapped her arms around Ruby all the same. Ruby had saved her. Weiss didn't want to admit it, but she'd been so scared, confined and unable to breath, that was something she never wanted to experience again. The only closeness she was willing to accept right now was a hug from Ruby.

Ruby propped herself up a bit above Weiss, staring down into her eyes with a wide smile. She closed them a second later, nuzzling Weiss's forehead with her own. Weiss felt a pang of sadness in her heart. This girl had literally just killed someone for Weiss, but all she was concerned with was Weiss safety. She was so happy just knowing Weiss was alright. What lengths would she go to for Weiss? Weiss didn't want to become like an 'owner' for Ruby. She had to help this girl become a little more streetwise, maybe give her some lessons on common sense. You know, take it slow. Ruby's smile was so dazzling. Take it slow. Weiss definitely didn't want to pressure her into anything, Ruby needed to learn proper human morals. Take it slow. Now wasn't the time for anything sentimental.

Ah, to hell with it.

Weiss raised her head just a bit, and pressed her lips against Ruby's. She held the gesture for 2 seconds, then lowered her head back down. Ruby's mouth hung open after, and Weiss thought she saw her lick her bottom lip a littllllle aaaaAAAAHHHHHH WAIT WAIT Weiss flipped herself out from under Ruby and rolled onto her stomach, covering her face. NOOOOO THAT DOESN'T COUNT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SOMEWHERE ROMANTIC NOT IN A PUDDLE OF BLOOD AAAAAA! Weiss screamed at herself in her head, the sane part of her mind kicking in just after the kiss had ended. She kicked her legs a little in frustration.

"K-kiss! Kiss! We kissed! Wait, uh, let's do it again! I wasn't ready!" Ruby returned to her senses as well, but didn't seem to share the same viewpoint on what situation was romantic enough for a kiss with Weiss.

"Not here! Dolt!" Weiss half screeched.

Ruby giggled. "Later then? If that's ok?" Ruby moved over and sat on Weiss's back, tapping at her head.

Weiss kept her head down, trying to calm her blush. A few seconds later, Weiss felt a tickle behind her ear. She could hear Ruby's breath, so close. She jolted and yelped a little as she looked back at Ruby. "Hey!"

When Weiss turned her head, Ruby's tongue rubbed against her cheek. "I'm cleaning your ear! Its got blood on it. It's not good to get stuff in your ear!" Ruby said, like it was common knowledge.

Woa, Weiss didn't even know it was possible to want to kiss someone again and punch them in the face at the same time. How interesting! "Ruby. There's this thing called bathing. That us humans do." Weiss said, still trying to push down her blush.

"Oh yeah, that's right. We should do that." Ruby stood, and held out a hand to help Weiss up. "Wanna go?" Ruby stopped and looked at her own stretched out hand. "Ah! I'm cured! Weiss, look! I don't have claws anymore!" Ruby twirled a little, checking to see if her tail and other dragon features were gone as well. "Yay! Now I can go outside with you whenever again~!" She jumped in place happily for a moment.

Weiss got up on her own, and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder to calm her. "Let's try to get back." She said softly.

"Yeah! We can go to another city now! Oh, it'll be so fun to have you try riding me again! I can go so fast! You know, you've seen it!" Ruby chatted enthusiastically as Weiss took her hand and started back towards the hole in the wall she had originally come into the room from.

This time, Weiss didn't let for of Ruby's hand for even a second. As they navigated the maze like halls, Weiss thought to herself. She had to keep Ruby safe. Had to keep Ruby safe. Ruby... Wait. Had Ruby ever really been in danger? It seemed like, Weiss herself was the one always in danger. And Ruby kept saving her. The bandits at the first town, the first time she met Henry, Ruby had even calmed Blake down a bit on their first meeting so she wouldn't stab Weiss. Oh. Oh _no._ Wasn't Weiss just continuously being, a damsel in distress?! That was the exact thing she'd been running away from! The stupid role she was supposed to play, an obedient princes wife, no! No no no!

Why did that keep happening? All these situations where Ruby had to save her? Was the world just like that? No, otherwise women would have gone extinct. Was it her hair? It was pretty noticeable. That could paint her as a target. But wait, besides a reason for those things happening, why couldn't Weiss get out of those situations herself? Think back. What happened, what went wrong.

The bandits. Over numbered, caught and cornered.

Blake. Tricked, caught and cornered.

The ninja. Taken by surprise, caught and cornered until she tripped.

Henry. Cornered verbally.

Just now. Outnumbered, caught off guard and cornered again.

...Weiss was beginning to see a pattern here. The problem, the root of the problem, was she just kept letting people catch her. It would make sense that she had this problem.. As the only things Weiss had ever trained against were Winters summoned beasts and practice dummys. Never had Weiss had a real battle with another human that could think, until she left the castle. People weren't that different from animals. Weiss should have been able to beat them. The problem, was that they could think.

Weiss had some level of skill and experience, but that was no match for the raw strength Ruby possessed just by being alive. It didn't matter if your enemy could think if you could crush them in a second. But Weiss couldn't do that. She needed to train with a real person to get over this hurdle. ...unfortunately, Weiss only had 3 friends. None of which were human. Ffffffffff uhhh well Blake was close enough. Right. Weiss made a mental note to ask Blake to help her learn to fight a bit better. She was an assassin, she'd have to know some useful things!

The girls continued on, Weiss stewing in her own thoughts. To get back took them until sunrise. There were so many hidden passages, and they had to be even MORE careful avoiding people, because they were covered in blood. Ruby's red cloak helped with hiding their bloodiness, but still, it wasn't really made for two people. Luckily Yang was sitting on the steps of the inn, and easily flagged down with a wave of Weiss's hand and a few rocks thrown.

Yang marched over mime strangling Ruby and Weiss. "I swear to GOD you two will be the death of me!" She said through clenched teeth. A second later Yang leaned over and wrapped Ruby in a tight bear hug. "Uuuu... Stupid Blake... Hanging out with her is making me care about the ones I love to much!"

A book smacked Yang on the head lightly. "And that's a bad thing?" Blake came up from behind Yang, and gagged when she saw Ruby and Weiss. "Oh woa. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing for you. I could excuse it once, but if it's gonna continue." Blake gave a half smile and stepped back so she wouldn't be dragged into a messy hug.

"Can you get me a blanket or something? Ruby's got her cloak, but, I don't think I'd have such a good time walking across the clearing like this." Weiss ignored Blakes playfull jab.

"Yeah, got it." Blake turned to Yang. "You take your sister to the bath, I'll get Weiss a blanket and help her out. Weiss, stay hidden a few more minutes." Yang nodded, dragging Ruby away from Weiss despite her protest. Weiss couldn't help but chuckle a little at her display of affection. "Be back in a minute." Blake ran off too.

Weiss now stood in the alley across the road from the inn, alone. She sighed. She reeeeally hoped her and Ruby wouldn't make getting into such bloody situations a habit. Honestly, this was the third time!

"Good morning Weiss!" A voice said. Oh fu– "Lovely day we're having, isn't it? I saw yo–" Henry stopped in his tracks, mouth agape. That was a normal reaction, Weiss supposed, to seeing someone covered in blood splatters. "Uh..." He stood still. "Are you, ok?"

Weiss covered her face and held in a groan. "I'm fine Henry. This, isn't a good time." 'This isn't a good time' really? Weiss remembered a day when she would have just straight up told henry to screw off. But too many revenge seeking suitors and isolated hours alone as punishment for such actions had dampened her more expressive ways of showing defiance. She hated that. She needed to learn to feel comfortable saying a straight up 'no' to people again. Uhg, just add that to the list...

Henry stared at her. "Uhh..." he seemed to want to help, but was unsure of what he could even do. "You look tired."

Well, Weiss had been up essentially all night. it wouldn't surprise her if she had some bags under her eyes to show for it. "I'm fine." She said.

"If I might ask, is that, your blood? Or someone else's."

"Someone else's."

"... Did, umm,YOU make them bleed?"

"No."

"Oh thank god so you're not a murderer?"

Weiss shot him a cold glare. "Not YET."

Blake came up behind Henry out of nowhere, and poked his neck. He jumped and scooted away. Blake covered Weiss in a scratchy blanket and started tugging her towards the inn.

"Do you know her?" Henry asked Weiss, as if he were ready to fight Blake if Weiss didn't know her.

"Yes Henry. Goodbye!" Weiss said as Blake ushered her away from Henry and into the inn, and from there into the inns bath area.

Blake joined Weiss in the bath, and was kind enough to help Weiss wash off, as there was blood plastered to places on her back she couldn't really reach properly. Weiss felt calmer now, around Blake. This was soothing. They sat in silence for a while, before Blake spoke up. "So, you wanna tell me how you got all this on you?" She asked, scrubbing intently at the middle of Weiss's back.

Weiss groaned. "Remember the shadow bear?"

"Yeah." Blake dumped a bucket of warm water on Weiss to rinse her a bit.

Weiss coughed a bit after breathing a tiny bit of the water. "Ahk. Ah. Well, imagine that, but instead of a bear its a person and instead of a hole its a slice clean through."

"Oh YIKES! That really happened?" Blake Winced.

Weiss nodded. "It was dark so it was hard to see, but yeah. That happened."

"And I thought Yang had problems." Blake shook her head. "Oh and, you might have a few pinkish splotches in your hair for a while. Unlike the shadow bear, this stuff had hours and hours to set in."

"Uhg. Perfect." Weiss complained, pulling her hair around front and examining some of the said pink spots.

"Just say they're from berries. Or that someone spilled wine on you." Blake shrugged.

"Hey, how do you think I should address the murder thing with Ruby? It honestly scared the hell out of me that she did that. But at the same time, if she hadn't, I wouldn't be here right now."

Blake tilted her head, and looked to the side as if remembering something. "Yang's kinda like that too. A good person, but just a little too desensitized to violence. I'm guessing it's just a dragon thing? Either that or their family line is just really weird."

"Might be a bit of both." Weiss shrugged.

Blake and Weiss got dressed and went up to the room Blake and Yang were using. Weiss borrowed Blake's comb, planning to brush out all the snarls that had accumulated in her hair from gallivanting about a bunch of secret passages.

"Want me to brush your hair?" Blake asked, her cat ears twitching. She hadn't but her bow back on yet.

"Its fine, I can manage." Weiss said, a second before accidentally dropping the brush.

Blake raised an eyebrow picked it up. "Are you now?" Weiss looked away guilty. "You're exhausted. Turn your head, come on." Blake moved Weiss closer and started gently running the brush through her hair.

"I could definitely do this myself." Weiss pouted.

"Yeah yeah. How about you think about what you're going to say to Ruby when you see her in a few minutes?" Blake said calmly. Weiss wondered if Blake had any siblings. She seemed so mothering.

"Oh. Right." Weiss put a hand to her chin and thought. Then she remembered. Her and Ruby had kissed. Weiss's eyes widened, and she felt her face heat up.

"Your ears just turned bright red." Blake observed.

Weiss covered her face and let out a half his half silent scream.


	25. Sweet as honey

"I'm guessing more happened last night then just murder..." Blake said cautiously.

Weiss didn't know how to put it into words. So she asked a question instead. "What.. What was, you and Yang's first kiss like..?"

Blakes eyes lit up. "You two kissed? Aww!" She paused, glancing at the faded pink spots in Weiss hair. "Oh. Oh no. So, was this before or after she sliced someone in half?"

Weiss hunched over, curling up into a ball where she sat. "...After. Right after."

"...I mean, everyone has their kinks–"

"NO!" Weiss whipped around to put that thought out of Blake's mind. "No no no no NO!" Weiss made frantic hand gestures as she spoke. "I, she just, she just saved me! And and it was all moonlighty, and pretty, and I she sh-she we hugged but I wasn't THINKING clearly so–"

Blake put a hand on top of Weiss head. "Hey! Calm down! Sorry, I was teasing." Blake rubbed the top of Weiss's head softly and gave a small smile. "You remind me of an old friend."

That caught Weiss's attention. "Old friend?"

"I haven't seen her in a while. But I'd put you both in the 'stressed lesbian' category."

Weiss couldn't argue with that. She was indeed very stressed. "What's her name?"

"Illya. You wouldn't her." Blake went back to brushing Weiss's hair.

"Well yeah. I barely left the castle, let alone the city when I lived in Atlas. The only girls I knew were 'high class' people my father liked." Weiss huffed.

"Fair enough." Blake pulled the comb through Weiss's hair one last time, finishing her work. "Lets go see your girlfriend, m'kay?"

Weiss hugged her knees and stayed a ball. Blake had to drag her to the door, and only then did Weiss stand. Why was she so nervous? Uhg, stressed lesbian indeed... They walked down the hall, though Blake took a few extra seconds to fix her bow on her ears again. The door to her and Ruby's room was pushed open, and there Weiss saw Yang pinning Ruby down in a weird way while Ruby angrily screeched.

Blake knocked on the wall beside the door. "Hi."

Yang and Ruby saw the two by the door, and both their faces lit up. Yang let go of Ruby, and Ruby jumped up right after her. "Blake!" Yang chirped. "How've you been?" She smiled and strutted over, trying to act cool. She leaned against the wall and shot finger guns at Blake.

Ruby stayed in place bouncing slightly until yang finished her pose, then pummeled Weiss to the ground in a flurry of Rose petals. Weiss had a sneaking suspicion that this was how Nora felt when she rammed into her the day before. Why HAD Nora been there yesterday? Weiss made a mental note to ask her next time they saw each other.

Ruby stood, and held out a hand to help Weiss up. "Sorry! Ah, I'm still getting used to human things. Note to self, tackling is NOT a nice form of greeting, heh." Ruby rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Ruby seemed unaffected by the events of last night. Well, mostly. As hyper as she looked, Weiss felt an aura of weariness coming off Ruby. Her and Weiss had been traversing the city all night, even if they had been napping before that, they needed a good rest again. Uhg. What even WAS Weiss's sleep schedule anymore? "It's alright." Weiss took Ruby's hand and stood. "And uh, I wanted to thank you." Ruby tilted her head and stared at Weiss as if to ask 'for what?' Weiss glanced to the side, and continued speaking. "Thank you, for saving me."

Ruby's smile dropped, and she turned to Yang with a look of horror on her face. "You were right! It did scare her!"

"Told you! Humans hate it when you kill other humans! You've gotta be more carful with your strength!" Yang scolded lightly.

"What? No, I'm, I'm thanking her! It was either him or me in that situation! And, well it would be good to avoid MORE situations like that in the future, I'm grateful she reacted the way she did." Weiss tried to calm down the two fretting dragons.

"Oh!" Blake yelped. Everyone turned to look at her. "Ruby's claws are gone!"

She just noticed? Well, this was the first time Blake'd seen Ruby without her cloak on since she turned back. And Yang was pretty distracting when they first walked in.

"Yeah, it happened when I sliced the guy!" Ruby piped up. Blake grimaced at the thought.

"It felt weird, didn't it?" Yang said with a playful smile. "Like when your foot falls asleep? But all over your whole body!"

Ruby blinked. "What? Feet cal fall asleep?"

Weiss sighed at the direction their conversation was starting to take. "We're standing in the doorway, lets sit down. We need to tall about the 'ninja'."

Yang tilted her head "The what-now? Uhh ...Oh! Oh yeah the ninja! Yeah ok." All four girls converged into the room, and sat crosslegged on the bed, their eyes turned to Weiss.

Weiss pressed her hands together for dramatic effect, a subconscious mimicry of what she'd seen Nora do before. "So. We all know Henry was stalker number 4. Right?"

Yang raised a hand "Wait Henry? I thought his name was 'Menry'?"

Weiss's train of thought stopped "What?" She looked at Yang.

Blake spoke before yang could again "Yeah Menry. Menry Harigold wasn't it?"

Ohhhhhhh myyyy goooooddd Weiss knew exactly why they thought that. Ruby had referred to henry as 'Menry Harigold' once by accident. And Weiss hadn't corrected her, as it was funny. She never actually told Yang and Blake his name, did she? ...Whoops! "Uh. Its, Henry Marigold, actually. But no matter. So he's number 4, and number 3 was the ninja. Who coincidentally, is Nora's boyfriend."

Yang folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Did you find this out by accident? Or.."

"She told me. She led me through a mess of secret passages and we met. They uh, they weren't trying to kidnap me that first time apparently? They wanted to talk. Right RIGHT! Guys! There are dragon trackers!" Weiss slammed her hands down on the bed for emphasis.

Ruby and Yang looked at each other, then back to Weiss. Yang spoke "Yeah. We know. Did you, not know they existed..?"

Blake tried to but in. "Uh hey Weiss, maybe following people you only met recently down a dark alley isn't a very good Idea..?" Her comment went unnoticed.

"No no, I mean, there's a dragon tracker who currently is tracking ME. They think I'm a dragon!" Weiss complained.

"You? Nice joke Weiss." Yang chuckled.

"No I'm serious, they had this compass that could track the magic signature of dragon scales or something, so it pointed at me!" Weiss yelped.

"Last time I checked you didn't have any scales.." Blake said in a concerned tone.

"Hey wait what do you mean it 'follows the magic signature of dra–" Yang tried to say, but Weiss interrupted to reply to Blake.

"No it pointed at my necklace!" Weiss said frustratedly. It takes too long to talk to people...! Weiss wanted them to all know everything right now this instant! But no, she had to use 'words' and 'communication'. Blehg.

"Necklace? She really made one? Oh my gosh can I see?" Yang said with a smile in her voice. Weiss pulled it up from under her shirt, showing it off a little. "Its so pretty!" Yang cooed.

"Is that one of Ruby's scales?" Blake asked, leaning close and gazing at the ruby red accessory.

Weiss nodded. "She gave it to me, yeah."

Blake gave Ruby a caring look. "You carved it into a heart, that's so cute..!" Ruby beamed with pride.

"Ok wait back on topic, Yang, sorry for talking over you and to answer your question, yes. They have a compassion that points at dragons. Or more like, their scales I think. And considering the fact that they were fine with flaunting it about, I think they're relatively easy to make or acquire."

Yang folded her arms. "That makes a lot of sense actually... I'd been thinking they've been getting better at finding me lately, despite how carful I've been. Me and Ruby even split up for a year or so to throw off their trail! Ahk. Bad decision on my part." Yang groaned. "I should have known there wouldn't be a 'kill the golden dragon' quest in every single city I visited. Its because I was there in the first place that the quests appeared!"

"Yang? Speaking of scales, how did Menry get one of your scales in the first place?" Ruby asked. "He had one when we first saw him. We got it back of course, but, you're always so carful. And you taught ME to be super carful! How did you loose one?"

Yang stayed silent at first. Her fists clenched a little in her lap, and Blake reached over and rested a hand on them. Yang shifted in her seat a little and spoke softly. "Ah, well, while we were traveling apart, some 'things' happened. Lets just say the right sword can cut off more then you expect it to." Yang glanced at her right arm, but then shook her head. "So! Menry dow– sorry, HENRY down, ninja down, now we've just got short mysterious cloaked person and most likely male mysterious cloaked person!"

Weiss nodded, sensing that Yang would rather not talk about whatever had happened before. "Correct. And I'm guessing that one of them is a dragon tracker, if not both."

"We can leave now." Blake said. Everyone looked at her. "Ruby's better, that's the only reason we stayed this long, waiting for her to get better. We could go right now."

"Yes, but actually no." Weiss said. "Don't we need sacks or blankets or ropes or something? Just so 'this' doesn't happen again." Weiss pointed at the scar on her eye. She placed a hand on Ruby's head right after speaking too, rubbing it gently to assure her there were no hard feelings. Ruby could be pretty sensitive sometimes.

"I think we should have a test run first." Yang said.

"Yeah, just to test like the durability of the blankets or whatever we use! We'll figure out which is the best method and use that in a day or two!" Ruby agreed.

"That's settled then? Alright." Weiss said, about to stand up.

"Lets do it right now!" Yang said.

Huh? "Didn't we just say we were going to wai–" Weiss tried to say.

"No no, I mean lets go get blankets or sacks right now. Me and Blake. You and Ruby can rest up a bit, and then a little before dark we can test one of them in the forest!" Yang explained.

"Oh. Yes then, go for it." Weiss waved a hand, and stretched., fatigue setting in now that she felt safe.

Blake and Yang left the room, leaving Ruby and Weiss alone together. Ruby waited a few minutes, then spoke "Do you want some honey?"

Weiss gave Ruby an odd look. Honey? Why would she have honey? ...oh right! Ruby pulled out the small jar from before. The one that she'd bought at the market. It was a bit scuffed and scratched, but the contents were safe. "Yang tried to see what it was, but I hid it, cause I wanted to share it with you!"

Weiss couldn't help but laugh a little. "That was sweet of you."

"Hmm.. We don't have any bread, but, its sweet on its own right?" Ruby unscrewed the lid and dipped her finger in, then pulled it out to lick it clean. Weiss copied her actions, tasting it herself. It was indeed sweet. And Ruby's presence made it even sweeter. As Weiss was eating, she got a bit on her nose. Ruby noticed, and moved closer to lick it off. Her playful action made Weiss laugh, and Ruby smiled brightly in return.

"There's a little on the corner of you mouth~" Weiss leaned forward and poked the side of Ruby's lips with her tongue, licking it off. Rubys cheeks went a little red, and she gave Weiss a shy glance. If only I could be this forward when I _wasn't_ half dead tired, Weiss thought to herself.

"Weiss? Can I kiss you?" Ruby asked. Weiss's heart almost melted. Ruby was aware that Weiss was still a little hesitant and easily embarrassed, and was trying her best to make sure Weiss was alright with moving forward at all.

"Yeah." Weiss whispered, straining to look Ruby in the eyes instead of blushing and turning away. Ruby leaned close and gently pressed her lips against Weiss's. She pulled away, then giggled a few seconds after.

"You taste like honey~" Ruby smiled. Weiss leaned forward and pressed her face against Ruby's shoulder to hide a blush. "Oh noooo... Faling...!" Ruby said in an exaggeratedly dramatic tone as she let herself fall back on the bed in slow motion, setting the partially eaten honey jar on the bedside table. Weiss used Ruby's shoulder as a pillow, and Ruby let her arms wrap around her. "Wanna sleep?" Ruby said softly, her hand gravitating upwards and resting on Weiss's head, rubbing it in a gentle manner.

"Mmm." Weiss hummed peacefully as an agreement. They lied there in silence.

Taking a nap with a soft warm girl you love is the epitome of bliss, both Ruby and Weiss thought to themselves.


	26. Apparently fire makes a great prosthetic

Ahh, Such a peaceful sleep. Warm and soft, no danger in the world at all. If only time could stop like this...

"HEY THERE!" A voice screamed into Weiss's ear. She bolted up, almost flinging herself off the bed in a panicked flurry. She whipped her head around to try to pinpoint the source of the voice, and her eyes settled upon Yang, sitting at the foot of the bed while trying to hold in a laugh.

Weiss was a little more awake now, and once the sense of shock passed, she was furious. "Yang! What the hell?! Were you TRYING to give me a heart attack?!" She barked.

Yang shook her head, smiling like a kid who'd successfully pulled their first prank. "Just testing your reflexes! Aaaaand you passed! Great lets go!" Yang walked to the door and left the room. Weiss stared at the door. Yang opened it again, poking her head back in. "You need a few minutes to wake up?" She came back into the room.

"I... Uh." Weiss rubbed her eyes, remembering the past few days. Ruby wasn't here. A small jolt of panic sparked through her, but was mostly sated by the fact that Yang didn't seem to be worried in the slightest. She still wanted to ask though. "Where's Ruby? And, Blake?"

"I sent them on ahead, you looked like you needed a bit more time to sleep. Me and Blake both know where to go, we picked out an area in the forest to transform. We'll head there when you're ready." Yang sat on the bed again, and let herself fall onto it, sprawling her arms out.

"If I needed more sleep, what was that 'reflex test' you just gave me?" Weiss grumbled, shaking her head and standing up.

"Eh, you'd been sleeping an extra half hour. I was getting bored." Yang shrugged. She raised her head and looked at Weiss "Also me and Blake ate a little of your honey. Not a lot! Ruby said it was fine. Well, she glared pretty hard at us, so maybe it wasn't, but whatever."

Weiss held in a laugh at the thought of Ruby glaring at her sister as her and Blake tried a lick of the honey that SHE had got on her very own. Like a kitten mad that it had to share a dead mouse it caught with its litter. "We did almost die for it." Weiss joked.

Yang sighed. "Ahhg, you don't know the half of it. I could fill a book with tales of things she does that almost gets her killed. Granted, about half of those I was egging her on to do, but still." Yang flipped herself over onto her stomach and turned, resting her hands under her chin as she watched Weiss fiddle about getting ready to leave. "Are things going ok? Between you two?"

Weiss paused her movement for a moment, and gave Yang a confused looking. "Why wouldn't they be?"

"She did just slice someone in half in front of you, or so I was told. And the whole human with a tail and weird scale patches for a week thing, didn't freak you out too much?" Yang asked cautiously.

Weiss finished gathering her things, and answered. "I was to worried about her being sick to even register that situation properly, I think. And it was dark last night, so I didn't see much. Just heard things. It's not like I hadn't seen worse happening in my own castle basement." Weiss opened the door of the room, glancing back at Yang. "You coming?"

Yang followed. As they walked out of the city and into the forest, their conversation continued. "Thanks." Yang said. "For sticking with her. She's filled to the brim with puppy love right now, and it's nice to see its not unrequited." She paused for a moment, then let out a huge sigh. "I totally thought you'd bail when the dragon sickness thing happened! My uncle was seeing someone when his first time happened, and she freaked out and tried to stab him. Oof. Somewhere in the world, there's a traumatized bar maiden who thinks her lover was eaten by a giant black lizard."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have to try to turn into a dragon to have it affect you? Did he try to go dragon in an inn room?"

Yang shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe they were going at it in a cave or something and he wanted a flying break when she fell asleep afterwards. I just know what he told me. As much as he likes telling stories, he tends to leave out important details." She paused. "Or maybe he did what Ruby did, try to go dragon real quick in a confined space to get rid of a cold."

[[Hey Weiss!]] Ruby's voice suddenly sounded in Weiss's head.

"Speak of the devil, there she is." Weiss said, as Ruby's red dragon head poked out of the brush.

Yang grinned. "Aw, no fair! I wanted to show off first!" Ruby stuck out her tongue at Yang and puffed a tiny puff of smoke. "Heh, fine. Strut around for a little, have your moment."

Weiss stepped in through the brush with Yang, and saw it opened into the edge of a clearing in the forest. It wasn't exactly a small clearing, there was room for Ruby to frolic around. But it looked like no one would see them unless they were spying from the tops of the tall trees, or were in view of them all in the underbrush. Weiss scanned her eyes over the clearing, and saw Blake sitting near the edge, reading. Yang jogged over to her and started chatting. Weiss looked to Ruby, an saw she was watching Yang. A childish idea occurred to Weiss. She jumped at Ruby, as if trying to jump onto her back. Ruby startled a little, making an embarrassed screech at Weiss. Weiss smiled. "Your scales are so cool." Weiss said, as she ran her hands over Ruby's hide. Ruby's chest puffed with pride.

[[Wait till you see Yang, she's like gold!]] Ruby insisted.

"Hey Weiss! I'm doing it!" Yang yelled from across the clearing. Weiss and Ruby turned to look, just as Yangs human form turned into a huge golden dragon. She wasn't twice as big as Ruby, but she was almost there. In a pinch, it looked like she could carry Ruby in her dragon form if needed. Yang's scales sparkled in the sunlight, making it look like her entire body was littered with gold coins. Her neck, head, back, all four of her leg... All four... All, three? She was, missing a leg. One of her front legs, her right front leg was half gone. A stump.

Ruby made a strangled squawk, and trampled over to Yang, nudging her nose at the leg in a panic. Yang looked at Ruby and tilted her head in a shrugging motion. Ruby stomped on the ground and screeched at her some more. Weiss wandered over to Blake, and leaned close to whisper. "Sooo, she's missing an arm in dragon form, but not human form? Do YOU have an explanation?"

"Just wait, she'll figure out in a moment it'll be easier to explain it with a voice then to each of us by thoughts individually." Blake chuckled. "As convenient as the telepathy is, we really shouldn't broadcast it to everyone within a mile radius."

It took another moment of Ruby pestering Yang, but both girls finally went from dragon back to human. Yang didn't have her right arm, it was cut off a little above the elbow. Ruby put her hands to her head and screeched again. "OH MY GOSH IT'S GONE!"

"I told you, it's fine! Jeez!" Yang huffed, blushing a little.

"Does limb removal not transfer to your human form most of the time?" Weiss said coolly. She was indeed curious. Was Yang's arm from before an illusion?

"Right, right. Well here, look." Yang held out her arm, and its lower half materialized from thin air, thousands of tiny glowing orange particles combined together and made her arm look normal again. Like it had never been gone. Ruby grabbed it and inspected it, confusion just oozing from her frantic movements. "You know I'm a 'fire' mage right? I shoot and punch things with fire. Well, after my arm got cut off, I figured... I'm a dragon, I've got excess magic. Especially in human form. So I used a little of it to experiment, and make a sort of, living prosthetic. Fire is basically a living thing already, it wasn't that hard. And as long as I don't overexert myself, I can just automatically keep my 'fake arm' on."

"So, it's made of fire? But it doesn't burn everything it touches? And you can still feel from it?" Weiss asked rapid fire questions.

"Uh, yes, yes, and yes. I kinda use like, a sheildy thing? Or something? It's made of fire, fire that I can feel through, like an extension of my own body, cause it's my own magic. And I covered it in extra magic to shield it so it wouldn't catch things on fire by accident, and so that it would look 'human' and not like my arm was made from literal flames. Which it is." Yang flexed her fingers on the fake hand.

"Did it come off in human form or dragon form?" Weiss wondered out loud.

Yang lowered her gaze. Blake stood next to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "... In, dragon form." Yang said in a quiet voice.

"Wait wait wait. So, some dragon bit off your entire arm?! That's awful!" Ruby put her hand to her heart, clutching the fabric of her cloak.

Yang looked away from Ruby. "It wasn't a dragon who did it." She mumbled. She turned away fully, and folder her arms. "It was a human. A faunus."

"So a HUMAN has your severed arm full of golden scales?!" Ruby looked ready to faint.

"This is why I didn't tell you earlier! You'd worry to much..!" Yang yelled and turned back to face Ruby, a small tear forming in her eyes from frustration.

"Of course I'm worried! You can be tracked by your scales!" Ruby shouted back at her.

Both Ruby and Yang looked ready to burst into tears. Weiss leaned over to Blake and whispered into her ear. "You knew about this I suppose? You didn't look too shocked."

Blake whispered back. "Ever wonder how I found out she was a dragon in the first place?"

"Oh, do tell. I think they need a moment alone." Weiss said, giving Yang and Ruby a soft glance.

Blake nodded. "Yeah. They do. Let's take a walk." Blake turned to Ruby and Yang and called to them "Me and Weiss are going over there! You two, talk, or something."

"Be back later!" Weiss called out as they walked away. Though from the looks of it, Ruby and Yang didn't even realize Weiss and Blake had said anything.

Blake spoke as she walked. "I'll try to keep it short. So basically my... ex, had just stabbed me and was going to kill me, but suddenly a giant golden dragon crashed into the building we were in. And he cut off its arm. I ran from that city, didn't see Yang for a while. Next time I DID see her, she had a severed arm. That was the first thing that tipped me off. Second, well, I followed her into the forest a few weeks later and saw change form. But she was normal enough otherwise. I stuck with her out of guilt at first, but then grew rather fond of her. She didn't know I knew she was a dragon. She only found out recently due to you and Ruby."

"And she always knew you were a faunus, because of her sense of smell." Weiss said.

"Hah. Yeah. I should have figured, she did always ask for extra fish on my stuff whenever we got food. I don't even remember ever telling her I liked fish." Blake paused. "Did I tell her?... No, no she just figured it out on her own. I'm sure of it." Blake sighed. "We had a loooong talk together that night you two made us realize we each knew each others secret. Thanks for that." Blake said that last part rather shyly. Huh, she had a strangely cute side.

"Do you think they've made up yet?" Weiss asked.

"Who knows? Yangs emotions are quite fickle sometimes, she held a grudge against some guy for accidentally stepping on her foot at the guild for months, but a different guy accidentally shot an arrow at her that same day and she forgave him instantly. With said arrow still sticking out of her side."

"Woah." Weiss said. Was Ruby like that? Actually, now that Weiss thought about it... "I don't think Ruby's ever talked directly to another person without me there, except for her trying to buy honey from a cart."

Blake made a half shrug. "She was stuck in that room for a week."

"Yes, but still... Have you seen her interact with anyone?" Weiss asked.

Blake thought a moment, and shook her head. "It took her 3 days of being alone together for her to finally speak to me enough to communicate that she wanted to play a card game."

Weiss thought back on all the times she'd been out with Ruby. She'd seemed pretty normal, but, Weiss really couldn't remember Ruby talking to anyone of her own violation unless weiss was somehow involved or nearby. Even the guard when they got her ID, that was just cause Weiss kinda pushed her into it. Would Ruby be able to talk to someone on her own, without Weiss, Yang, or Blake as support?

Blake spoke again. "Oh I just remembered, were you two near the fire last night?"

Weiss's thoughts froze. "...Why do you ask?"

"I was gonna ask earlier, but the whole 'covered in blood' thing got me sidetracked. It's why Yang was so worried and pacing by the front of the inn, she thought you might have started the fire or something." Blake pushed aside a branch in her path, keeping her hand on it until Weiss walked by as well. Weiss looked away from Blake guilty. How much had that fire spread..? Weiss had basically forgotten about it until Blake brought it up just now. Blake gave Weiss a suspicious glance. "I know that look. What did you two do?"

Weiss spilled the beans.

And to her surprise, Blake laughed. "I can't TELL YOU how many times me and Yang have had to leave a town because she set some random building on fire. Its weird, Yang's fire. It only hurts people when she wants it to hurt. I can stand in a pillar of flames she's made and be perfectly fine! I thought it was that she just had expert magic control, but, maybe its a dragon thing. If there's no malicious intent, there's no need to kill."

"That just makes all the burned victims in a dragon attack even worse." Weiss winced. "I guess some dragons just really want to hurt people."

"Dragons want to hurt people, people want to hurt people. People suck. Everyone sucks! Uhg." Blake stretched her arms, and folded them on top of her head as she walked.

Weiss was silent a moment. "Does that mean, no one was hurt in our fire?"

Blake nodded. "That's another reason Yang was so worried. She was so convinced it was you two, and you'd gotten caught or something."

"You didn't believe her?" Weiss asked.

"Yes and no? I had her stay at the inn and I checked the jail cells near the area of the fire. You weren't there."

Weiss nodded. The two gradually walked in a circle, tuning to head back to Ruby and Yang. Hopefully they had calmed down a bit. Weiss and Blake would be alone for a few more minutes, weiss realized. Now would be a good time to ask her that question...

"Hey Blake? Can you teach me some of your... Fighting style?"

Blake stopped. "My what now?"

Weiss folded her arms. "I can fight general beasts, that I'm good at. Normal ones, low level shadow ones. But the past month or so has taught me that, I'm VERY bad at fighting people. I get caught to easily. With a wolf or something, I can outwit them. But I can't do that to a person. Not most of the time anyways." Weiss sighed. "I really would have died last night if Ruby hadn't shown up. And I don't want her to blame herself if she shows up 'too late' in the future. That'd be my fault for not having trained enough."

"Ok but, you haven't even seen me fight. Why me?" Blake asked quizzically.

Weiss looked to the side. "You're the only non-dragon friend I have..."

Blake winced and gave a half smile "Yeah, they've got different biology down to the core. I bet Ruby would offer you a lava bath or something to strengthen your skin if you passed a volcano."

"She has more sense than that!" Weiss argued.

Blake gave her a look. "Does she?"

Weiss turned away and pouted. A few minutes of silence later, Weiss and Blake arrived back at the clearing.

Ruby and Yang weren't there.


	27. Stand in the forest

"Blake calm down they're fine they're literally dragons they'll be fine stop panicking there's nO NEED TO PANIC–"

"You're more panicked then me!" Blake barked in response to Weiss's frantic state.

Upon returning to the clearing, Ruby and Yang seemed to have vanished. "How long were we gone?" Weiss asked, scanning the area for any sign of them.

"No more than 20 minutes, I'm sure.." Blake replied. Weiss noticed her bow twitching. She must have been listening intently to try and see if Ruby and Yang were still in the area, a smart idea. But sadly, even Blake's cat ears couldn't find them. It was as if they had never been there in the first place.

Weiss sat down on the grass. This was quite the puzzle.. Why would they just up and leave? With what had been going on lately, both those girl had enough sense not to hide in the bushes to leap out to scare their girlfriends. And if they'd had to run off because of an intruder in the clearing, surly they'd have gone straight to Weiss and Blake to warn them, right? Right?

"Do we just.. Go back to the inn?" Weiss said in a confused tone, to no one in particular.

Blake furrowed her brow and scoffed. "They're around, they're SOMEWHERE." She stared up at what little of the sky she could see between the foliage of the redwood sized trees. "They must've went dragon again, and took a flying break. Yeah. Yeah that's it." Blake didn't seem to sure of her own words, but Weiss sensed she was trying to calm down the situation. That was nice of her.

"How long so you think it'd take us to die here if we just waited for them? Three days? Maybe two if a pack of rabid animals showed up?" Weiss sighed as she spoke.

"Be quiet." Blake said.

"I was just wondering–"

"No, be quiet, I think I hear something.." Blake faced her palm at Weiss in a shoving motion.

Weiss shut her mouth. And listened. She didn't hear anything odd.. Actually, she didn't hear anything at all except her and Blake's breathing. That, that was a good thing! That meant the animals in the area still sensed dragon! But, where were they then? And wh–

[[WEISSSSSSS!]]

Weiss had started to stand up, but doubled over when that ear shattering voice invaded her head. "Ow! Volume!" She yelped.

Blake gave her an odd look, but Weiss ignored it. How did telepathy work again? Could Weiss think her thoughts back to Ruby? Or did she have to reply verbally, like she usually did? [[Finally! It's so hard to aim from this high up..]] Ruby said. Weiss turned her head to the sky. She couldn't see where Ruby was, but she let out a breath of relief knowing she was in the same vicinity at least. [[It's just, there are people nearby? I don't think they're bad, if they are me and Yang will destroy them. But uh we panicked. And flew into the trees. Sorry.. I tried to tell you as soon as you stepped in, but, it's hard to aim my thoughts from up here.]]

Weiss had so many questions. What did she mean by 'people'? How many people? Was Yang right next to her? Were they gonna come down soon? How had their chat gone? Did they make up? They were on the verge of tears when Weiss saw them left, she wanted an update on that situation! Weiss glanced up at Blake, and saw her expression making a variety of interesting changes. Yang must've got in touch with her.

"Oh, hey!" A voice sounded from behind Weiss. She immediately whipped around to pinpoint its source, her hand zipping to her sword. The person in question raised their hands in surrender. "Whoa! Hey, hey its me!"

Nora.

Weiss kept her hand on her sword. Nora put down her hands, and rested one on her hip, cocking her head with a warm smile. "You're pretty jumpy, you know that?"

"So I've heard..." Weiss mumbled.

"What are you doing so far out into the forest alone at a time like this? It'll be dark soon." A note of worry crept into Nora's voice.

Alone? But what about Bla– ...That little sneak! Weiss's eyes darted around, but Blake was nowhere to be seen. She must have instinctively fled at the first sense of Nora's presence. Weiss couldn't blame her, but still, that stung a little...

"You're alone too." Weiss sheathed her sword.

"No I'm not, Rens right there!" Nora pointed back at the trees. A hand poked out of the brush and waved. Ren stepped out a second later.

"I didn't want to interrupt." He said.

"Aw, feel free to next time! More friends around is always nice!" Nora smiled and took hold of his hand. Ren gave a stoic nod, but Weiss could tell he was happy. "Are you on a quest?" Nora turned her attention back to Weiss "You really shouldn't do those alone.."

"No, no, I'm just–" hanging out with my dragon friends in the woods "–taking an evening stroll." Weiss avoided looking Nora in the eyes.

Nora raised an eyebrow. "And you got this far, huh?" She shook her head. "Me and Ren were following the compass again, it suddenly flared up a little while ago. But maybe that was you?" Nora squinted at Weiss suspiciously. "It flared up the day before yesterday too, a bit after you left. I went by your inn room the next morning to ask about the flares, though you were to busy running to get my message."

Since the compass used the magic signature of dragon scales, Weiss could assume it 'flared up' whenever a nearby dragon went from human to dragon form. That would make a sudden burst in data for it to collect. But, Nora said it happened the day before yesterday. Ruby didn't do that yesterday. And, Yang was at the inn all night, and hadn't gone dragon until just today. Was there another dragon around? Or perhaps Weiss was overthinking it. Maybe Ruby's sudden switch off of her weird semi dragon form had messed up the compass. Yeah. Yeah that was it. There wouldn't be another dragon around. There couldn't be.

"Hello? Earth to Weiss?" Nora stepped close to Weiss and poked her nose. Weiss made a tiny high pitched yelp, causing Nora to giggle.

"You really ARE jumpy." Nora smiled. "And don't think for a second I'm buying the 'evening stroll' thing." Nora thought for a moment, and then gasped. "Are you going to turn into a dragon? Can I see? How does it happen? Does it hurt?"

"I, I already told you I'm not a dragon!" Weiss raised her hands in front of her in mock surrender.

Nora was about to prod more, but at that very moment, something fell and smacked into the ground right in between the two girls, scaring them both. Actually, it wasn't someTHING. It was someONE. Ruby. Ruby now laid in between Weiss and Nora, having face planted into the ground below. She groaned softly.

"...Oh my god are you alright?!" Nora was first to react. Ruby lifted a hand and gave a thumbs up, face still firmly placed against the floor.

Weiss stared at the fallen Ruby. Was this, a good time to introduce her to Nora..? Hey Nora, this is my girlfriend, who just survived a fall from a half mile tall tree~! ...as if. Weiss's mind raced, but she couldn't come up with a good excuse as to how Ruby would have survived that fall.

Ruby popped her head up, and covered her nose. It was bleeding. She tried to hide it, but it was obvious due to the red seeping out of her fingers. "Hallo!" Ruby said, her voice muffled by her stuffy nose.

Nora blinked. "...hi." She shook her head and re-brought up her smiling hyper upbeat face. "Are you a dragon?"

Ruby must not have been expecting that question, because her answer was about as bad as it could be. "whhhuhhh iiii doh! doh! doh dragods here! I'm humad, completely, uh, dormal humad! I like sleeping in beds and eating things with metal sticks!" She panicked.

Nora's mouth dropped open in awe. "Oh my god you ARE!"

Weiss was confused. Wasn't the hatred of dragons a, universal thing? Nora was excited to be in the presence of a 'dragon'. Was it only royalty that feared dragons so much? Because all the 'the princess has been kidnapped by a dragon' stories? Or perhaps Nora was just weird.. Yeah, there's no way all those fearful gazes Ruby had gotten when she'd saved Weiss in that first town they went to were just a localized thing. Duh. Everyone hated dragons. Nora was just weird.

Well to be fair, if Nora was weird for liking dragons, Weiss was double weird for DATING one...

"Even if I WAS a dragon, which I'm not, I couldn't tell you because people hate dragons!" Ruby tried to give an excuse, refusing to make eye contact with Nora as she stood up. Oh, it seemed her broken nose had healed mid sentence. Huh.

Nora nodded, playing along with Ruby. "Oh of course, I wouldn't DREAM of pressuring you in to changing your form right here. It hurts a lot to change, doesn't it?" Wait was she–

"Hurt? No it doesn't. It's just a poof–" Ruby covered her mouth and gave Nora a wide eyed glance.

Nora grinned. "I'd make a great con-woman~!"

Ruby started backing away ever so slightly. "If uh if i was a dragon you wouldn't tell anyone right?"

Nora smiled "Of course not! Every dragon we've met has been the same, so worried about us telling people and just wanting to live in peace."

Wait WHAT "Is it, really that easy to meet dragons?" Weiss barged into the conversation.

Nora made a half squint "Ehh, it helps when you have a tracking compass, so I'm not sure if we're a fair example."

"Why don't you,,, hate them? Everyone hates dragons! Even I did before!" Weiss couldn't help but spill the words out of her mouth before her brain had time to process them.

Nora shrugged. "I've never personally seen a dragon attack anything other than a castle. The only places they ever 'attack' seems to be directly royalty doesn't it? And I mean, anyone who attacks a corrupt kingdom can't be ALL bad, right? At least I think so." Nora tilted her head. "Everyone keeps telling stories about how dragons ravage villages, but no matter how many people I ask, no one has ever been attacked by a dragon unless they were in the line of fire pointing at a castle. Seriously, think of all the attacks you know about. They're all by-products of attacking a castle! So I'm thinking, either lots of dragons are royalty hating maniacs, or, they just really hate castles."

"Hmm, castles ARE infuriating.. To many walls, makes me want to knock them all down. What kinda place needs 7 walls?" Ruby said to herself.

Weiss stayed silent. Blake had said Yang's fire didn't burn when Yang didn't want it to. If there was no malice, there was no need to hurt. And, the fire that Weiss herself and Ruby had caused seemed to have had no living casualty's. But there were ALWAYS burned victims in the dragon attacks in atlas. The nearby villages, the castle itself, once in a while a dragon would go insane and start trying to rip away at their defenses. Burned victims, every time. What would make a dragon so angry, that they'd go on such a murderous rampage like that? It couldn't just be that they hated royalty as a whole, or that castle walls were annoying. No, there had to be something else. ...It was as if Weiss was trying to assemble a puzzle, but she didn't have all the pieces to complete it.

[[...Hey Weiss. Uh. What should we do? Knock her out?]] Yang's voice broke Weiss out of her train of thought. Weiss shot a glare at the trees. She wasn't sure where Yang was, but, the general concencianse was that she was up there somewhere.

Nora noticed Weiss looking around, and tilted her head. "Something up there?" She asked.

"No, no. Just spacing out." Weiss shook her head.

Nora swayed on her feet silently for a moment, and then asked a question. "Do you, wanna head back with us?"

"We, we uh, have something to do.. Out, here... Finish our walk, Yeah...!" Weiss tried to give an excuse.

Nora wasn't buying it. But, Ren got the message, and tapped Nora's shoulder to let her know they should leave. Nora's eyes were glued to Ruby as Ren pulled her out of the clearing.

Weiss breathed a huge sigh of relief when they were gone. "Well THAT was stressful."

Ruby lowered her head and apologized rapidfire. "I'm SO sorry I didn't mean to fall I just wanted to get closer to talk with you but the branch snapped and I fell and she SAW me oh no she's not gonna tell anyone is she oh my gosh i–"

"Ruby!" Weiss barked. Ruby stopped speaking, and looked Weiss in the eyes shyly. "Its ok. We couldn't have known she'd be here."

Yang hopped down next to Weiss, landing cleanly on her feet. Blake seemed to materialize behind Ruby out of thin air, but Weiss could assume she'd jumped down quietly as well. Blake and Yang had played it a little smarter than Ruby, and jumped from low branches, not ones a hundred feet directly above Weiss as Ruby had.

"Yeah ok we're definitely leaving tomorrow. Hell, even I'VE never handled a 'we know you're a dragon' that badly!" Yang winced at Ruby.

"Are you guys ok? Did you talk it out?" Weiss asked, immediately going back to her previous demeanor.

Yang blinked "Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah we talked. We've always been close, but, even close people have secrets sometimes. We're cool now."

Ruby nodded. "I'm still sad she didn't tell me, but, I think I might have kept it secret too if we'd just been reunited after 2 years and the first thing Yang did was expose our dragon secret to some random stranger." Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry about that.."

Weiss laughed a little to herself. Ah, how stressful that must have been for Yang, to immediately have her secret exposed the second her sister hugged her for the first time in two years.

Blake coughed to draw attention to herself. "We never did test the blanket thing."

...Ah

She was right. That was their entire reason for coming here today, and they hadn't even done that. And now they couldn't even use this clearing, because Nora knew where it was! Great.. And if they left now, they'd just barely make it back in time to get back into the city gates before they closed for the night..!

After some panicked running, by a hair's breadth they made it. Finally inside the walls, panting, Yang made a suggestion. "How about.. Huf, how, how about we DON'T do that again.. Hhhhh..."

The walk back to the inn was peaceful. Yang and Blake chatted, with Ruby piping in at random moments. Weiss had had her full of adventure and stress for the day, so she stayed silent, lest she be included in their weird little arguments about which foods stuck to walls best. As they were walking, they passed a board with human bounty posters stuck to it. A normal thing in a large city, many wanted men and women. They all looked pretty scraggly. Weiss would have ignored it, but a splash of color caught her eye. Red? She stopped, and took a closer look. Hm...?

A wanted poster with Ruby's face shrouded by her red hood stared back at her.


	28. Stress over not stressing enough

Weiss rubbed her eyes and shook her head, but the image remained the same. A picture of a girl in a red cloak, brandishing 4 knives as if they were claws, with a single glowing silver eye peeking out from under the hood. That was what Weiss was holding. Knives? When had Ruby ever had knives? Weiss read the description. 'Wanted for murder. Alive'.

… Murder? Since when was Ruby a murderer? She was like the most innocent little– oh. Ohhh, noooo. Oh no, they had. They HAD killed someone! That guy! When Ruby was still sick with her dragon sickness or whatever! What? How?! How did anyone find out about that?! Oh this was BAD, if anyone had seen this they'd take Ruby and try to collect the reward and–

"Hey." A hand touched Weiss's shoulder, making her jump. She turned to see a confused Blake behind her. "You doing ok?" Before Weiss could hide the paper, Blakes keen eye spotted it. "Hey, wait. What do you have ther–" Blake reached over and tried to wrestle the paper out of Weiss's grasp.

Weiss was resilient "Nothing! No-nothing at all! None of YOUR CONCERN!"

After a minute or two of squabbling while walking, Blake obtained the paper from Weiss. "Oh. Oh, no." She read it over, then looked back to Weiss. "So, any idea why something like this might have come up?"

"No, I– … Ok, well, there WAS that one person she sliced in half with her claws... When she still had them." Weiss mumbled.

"Aha, claws. That explains the knives." Blake nodded. She was right. To anyone who did not know Ruby's dragon situation, those claws definitely would have looked like knives.

"Maybe lets get her out of the cloak for a little while." Weiss said, picking up her speed and rejoining Ruby and Yang. "Ruby! How are you? Feeling good?" Weiss asked.

Ruby gave her an odd look. "Yes? I'm alright. Do I not look alright?" She tilted her head ever so slightly.

Weiss felt her chest tighten. "You're great! Looking fine! Say, can I see your cloak for a bit? Maybe the rest of the night? Until we leave?"

Ruby made a small laugh. "Heheh, I would let you, but I think you'd be mad if I did." Weiss stared at her, unsure of what she meant. Ruby spoke again. "You said humans need to have covering clothes. The back of the dress I'm wearing is completely torn open, and one of the sleeves is nearly burnt off. But as long as I have the hood on, no one notices!" She smiled.

… Ahhhhh, that's right, her wings had burst through the dress. That little brown dress was ruined. Not that Weiss minded, she'd never been to attached to it, but now they'd have to go shopping for new clothes for Ruby? With wanted posters for her up everywhere? They'd have to do it soon, before too many people saw the posters. Weiss heard Blake call out to Yang, and Yang's pace slowed, leaving Weiss and Ruby a few feet ahead of them alone together.

Ruby stretched her arms as she walked, letting Weiss see the charred fabric. Oof. Ruby glanced over at Weiss, with a smile that almost made her forget every bad thing in the world. "It'd be nice if we could go a week without bleeding, huh?" Ruby said jokingly.

Weiss scoffed playfully. "That would require a certain someone to think more clearly before jumping out of 100 ft trees."

"Hey, I tripped! It was hard to find a branch to stay stable on after changing back!" Ruby stuck her tongue out at Weiss.

Weiss shook her head and smiled. She looked up at the sky. It was dark now, stars out and abound. Weiss thought to herself. Ruby had killed someone. It was for self defense, yet, that fact remained the same.

Why? Why was Weiss so ok with that? Shouldn't she have been at least a little disgusted or worried, or feel bad at all? But she didn't. Weiss could understand why Ruby wasn't bothered, dragons were so much more powerful than humans. It would be like killing a pesky mole. But Weiss, Weiss should have felt something. Something. But there was nothing. Being with Ruby made her happy, so did being around Yang and Blake. Maybe she just wasn't LETTING herself dwell to hard on the murder thing, because she subconsciously didn't want to let go of the safety and security she felt with her friends? She been surprised, maybe a little scared for a bit, but not once had she felt disgusted buy the action at all.

Funny. Weiss was more stressed about not being worried about murder then she was stressed about the actual murder itself. Murder? No she shouldn't call it that, it was in self defense. It was, wasn't it? Weiss thought back again, she'd been in the room, grabbed, and... Hmm... Ruby had kind of jumped in and sliced without warning, hadn't she? Gahh, whatever. Weiss slapped her cheeks to rid herself of her train of thought. Ok! Ok, done with that! Don't think about that now! Just take a look at Ruby and–

Ruby was staring at Weiss, eyes unblinking and wide as the moon. "You make interesting faces when you think too hard." Ruby observed.

"... You can't read my mind, can you?" Weiss asked, squinting a little.

Ruby giggled. "No, dragon telepathy only works one way. You have to answer out loud for me to hear it. Unless you're a dragon too. Me and yang can have secret conversations!"

Weiss nodded and they continued in silence.

When the four girls finally arrived back at the inn, each went off to their rooms, all flopped onto their beds. Ruby, yawning, stretched out her hand and knees like a cat. Weiss hid a small snicker. Either Weiss wasn't very good at hiding her laughter or Ruby had some good ears, because Ruby pounced on Weiss a second later.

"AHK! Hey!" Weiss yelped, nearly having the wind knocked out of her. Ruby smiled devilishly.

"You laughed first!" She gave her reasoning for the attack.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "First?"

Ruby patted Weiss's hair from her position on her stomach. "Hehehe, your hair goes all messy when you lie down~" Ruby ruffled Weiss's head some more.

Weiss took a deep breath, and asked Ruby a hard question. "Ruby? How did you feel when you... Sliced, that guy?" Weiss avoided using the word 'killed'.

Ruby blinked, and let her body relax on top of Weiss's stomach, giving Weiss a comfortable weight. She took a while to answer. "I wasn't really feeling anything. I'd hit a dead end, so I went back and retraced my steps like you said. I ran a bit because I wanted to see you faster, but when I did, something just snapped." Ruby ruffled her own hair now, scratching her head in a thinking like way. "I don't think I wanted to slice him. I just wanted him away from you. And that seemed like the fastest way to do it. I'm... I'm getting better! At thinking! It's just, sometimes at important moments, I forget how to think and just act. Like a wild animal..." Ruby shifted her position again and nuzzled her head against Weiss's hair. "Does that make sense?"

Weiss nodded. "Even humans have moments like that. I'm sure every species does." Weiss rested one of her arms on Ruby's back, hugging her close. Ruby snuggled into Weiss's side like a puppy. The two lay there on the bed, lost in their own thoughts, and drifted to sleep.

* * *

"Oh my god that's so CUTE!" A whisper sounded. Weiss furrowed her brow. Noooo... Sleep...

"Shhh, you'll wake them!" Another voice said.

The presence of a second voice started waking Weiss up more, and she barely opened her eyes. Weiss was on the bed, on her back. And Ruby was lying half on top of her, snuggled and cuddled against her like the cutest baby animal you've ever seen. Weiss felt her cheeks redden.

"So cute…" Weiss hear a small snicker. Glancing up, she saw Yang and Blake both admiring Ruby's cute position. Weiss face only grew redder. But, she didn't want to wake the oh so content looking Ruby. So she settled for shooting Yang a death glare.

Yang clasped her hands together and pressed them against her cheek, tilting her head and making a kissy face. Blake gave her a gentle knock to the head after she noticed Yang's pose.

Ruby didn't seem like she was going to wake up any time soon, so Blake dragged Yang out of the room and discretely gave Weiss a thumbs up. Weiss would have thrown something at her if there had been anything within reach. Ruby was still asleep, but Weiss was now awake. Weiss moved an arm slowly, and eventually let her hand rest upon Ruby's head. She stroked it gently. This calming warm sensation reminded Weiss of simpler times, times like when she'd practiced singing with Winter in a warm room lit by firelight. Without even realizing it, Weiss let out her voice in a gentle song. Hours of training had forced her to memorize her songs perfectly down to the smallest note, so Weiss wasn't even aware that she was making any sound at all.

"You have a beautiful voice." Someone said. Weiss glanced down at Ruby, preparing to shush her and deny the statement, but... That voice just now was male? Uhhhhhhh.

Weiss turned her head and saw Ren standing at her bedside. She just barely held in a scream. And as soon as she recovered from the startle, she wasted no time in hissing at him in a whisper. "What are you doing here?!"

Ren blinked. "I did knock."

"You did NOT." Weiss said through gritted teeth.

"I came to see if you'd gotten back from last night. Nora was worried." Ren said in monotone.

Weiss felt a pang of guilt. If things had gone correctly yesterday, her and the others would have left today without a word to Nora. "I'm fine. And, I'm actually leaving town soon. In a day or two. Let Nora know." Weiss mumbled.

Ren nodded, and faded back into the shadows. Huh? Weiss craned her neck to try and see where he had gone, but all she saw was the door to her room slightly ajar. GOD Ninjas are creepy...

Weiss's frantic looking around jolted Ruby a tad, and force her to wake up. Ruby stretched her limbs, burying her face in Weiss's chest. She raised her head a little and rested her sleepy gaze upon Weiss. "... Murninf"

Weiss could feel herself blushing, but pretended she couldn't. "Hey sleepyhead." She fluffed Ruby's hair with her hand.

"Mmmmmm awake!" Ruby flung herself off Weiss, insisting she was indeed wide awake. She wobbled for a moment, but regained her balance almost instantly. Ruby stared blankly at the bed, then shook her head, messing up her hair and making her morning hair even worst. She sat on Weiss's legs and rubbed her eyes. "Ok. Ok! I'm awake! I really am this time!"

Weiss put a hand to her cheek and playfully pretended to be suspicious. "No! Are you? You are this isn't a dream?"

"Yeah! Yeah I'm, I'm... Sure..." Ruby's confidence in her statement dropped further with everyone word she said. She glanced around, checking and trying to make sure everything was as it should have been. "We're both awake! Don't do that!" Ruby stuck her tongue out at Weiss in a playful manner.

Weiss flicked Ruby's forehead to get her off her, and swung her legs over the side of the bed to sit up.

Ruby pouted from the flick and dramatically rubbed her forehead, staring at Weiss with puppy dog eyes. Weiss avoided her gaze. Too gay to thinkkkkkk aaauuhhgggggg... Weiss shook her head to clear her mind and stood up, stretching her arms. "So. Are we trying that blanket thing again?"

They indeed were. Apparently Blake and Yang had scouted multiple areas to use, but both chose the clearing as it was the biggest. Today they would be going to a smaller clearing, a bit further from the city. Weiss was extra careful to be on the lookout for any pesky ninjas.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Yang said to Weiss as the four girls walked through the forest.

"No, just... Searching." Weiss kept up her watch.

Yang poked Weiss on the side of the head. "Cut it out, you look suspicious as hell. Me and Ruby can tell when people are nearby, no one's gonna sneak up on us!" She proudly insisted.

"Did you sense anything this morning? Any boys in me and Ruby's room?" Weiss asked.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "If a boy snuck into your room, he wouldn't have left alive, if I had anything to say about it. No one peeps on my little sis!" She pumped a fist in the air.

… Ah. So Rens little colorless ninja trick could keep him out of dragon senses, huh? That was... inconvenient. At least he seemed to be on their side, for the most part. The 'I'll at least ask first before I stab a dragon' side, Weiss was calling it in her head. He was weird like that.

"We're here." Blake's voice sounded, breaking Weiss's train of thought. Blake pulled aside a mess of leaves and foliage, revealing a small clearing. Unlike the one before, this one didn't let any large patches of sun peak through. The sky wasn't visible through the massive trees extending branches.

"And this time we remembered to bring the blankets!" Ruby announced proudly. She began setting on on the ground, flattening it out nicely. "Ok, weiss! Get on!"

Weiss grimaced. The thought if being carried around in a blanket like a sack of potatoes was unappealing to say the least. She glanced at blake, and blake shook her head in a 'Lets just get it over with' sort of way. Weiss sighed, and sat in the middle of her blanket. Blake did the same on another.

Two dragons now stood before the girls, having appeared in an instant. The shock from yesterday was gone, but it still hurt Weiss's heart to see the chopped off stub that was Yang's front arm. Ruby and Yang both carefully picked up the tips of the blankets, and though Weiss's vision was now limited to the inside said blanket, she could tell they were airborne.

Even the fabric didn't stop the chilling wind from caressing Weiss's form. It was exhilarating. Though, short lived. No more than 2 minutes after they'd left the ground, Weiss head a strangled dragon screech and a human scream. What? Her and Ruby were fine, so did something happen to Yang and Blake? Yang wouldn't have... She wouldn't have DROPPED Blake, right..?


	29. None of us have any common sense

"Its a good thing cats always land on their feet..?" Yang said to Blake, trying to lighten the mood. Apparently, everyone had failed to realize having Yang carry a blanket with a living person in it with only one arm in dragon form was a bad idea. A bad idea which resulted in Blake nearly meeting an untimely demise. Luckily, Yang was smart enough to dart after her as soon as she had dropped her, but still. Weiss could almost see the aura of irritation oozing out of Blake, as she folded her arms and sat facing away from Yang on a log. Yang looked like an abandoned puppy.

Ruby and Weiss's trip had gone better. But it was pretty jostly in the blanket sack. And Weiss didn't even want to think about what would happen if Ruby used her rose petal speed boost with the blanket.

Weiss saw Ruby thinking hard, humming to herself as she wracked her brains. "Hmmmm... So blankets won't work... What else was there again?"

Weiss thought. Did this mean they were going to walk? Whoever was following her would for SURE nab her if they did that. There were still two people they didn't know the identities of. Uhg. Weiss hated having to think of herself as a kidnappable damsel in distress. That was one of the things she'd run away from back at the castle.. What other way was there?

"Could we steal a horse and cart or something?" Yang glanced back at Ruby and Weiss, taking a break from trying to talk to Blake for a moment.

"We are NOT stealing a cart. Ruby's already got wanted posters of herself plastered around town, we don't need to add the rest of us up there." Weiss grumbled

Yang's head tilted in a sharp twitch "Wait, wanted posters? Since when?" Yang noticed that despite Ruby's surprised face, Blake seemed indifferent. "You knew too? Communication people! That is the foundation of a good relationship with friends!"

"Oh says the one who didn't tell her girlfriend she knew about her fanus secret for a year!" Weiss snapped back.

"...I have wanted posters? What did I do?" Ruby spoke up curiously.

Weiss huffed, remembering the incident. "Uh, well, remember when you saved me? Claws, slicing a guy, yeah so apparently his friend lived and told a tale about being 'attacked in an alley'. Left out the part where he almost killed me, it seems."

"Ah..." Ruby and Yang nodded in understanding.

Weiss went back to the topic before and turned to Yang. "Have you stolen a cart before? You sounded awfully confident when mentioning it.."

Yang whistled softly to herself and avoided eye contact. Blake let out a small snort as she tried to keep from laughing. Yang turned back to Blake, to resume her half pandering/half apology.

"Now that I think about it.." Ruby wondered out loud. "Killing people really IS a bad thing, isn't it?"

Weiss barely stopped herself from replying sarcastically. Oof, Yang was rubbing off on her.. "..yes. It is. but, in cases where there's no other option, even the guard force can be lenient someone who's killed another." Weiss put a hand on Ruby's head and rubbed it softly. "You're still a good person. Good, good dragon. Girl? Good girl? Uh.." Weiss was having trouble with the proper terminology.

Ruby leaned herself against Weiss happily. "Person is fine when I'm like this! Don't wanna let out the secret!" Ruby nodded to herself.

"Oh! I've got it!" Yang put one of her hands into a fist and rested it in her other hand. Ruby and Weiss looked over, and Blake's bow twitched. "Lets use a makeshift saddle! Not, like a super well done crafty one. But I bet if we tie enough blankets and leather or whatever together we can get something stronger than ropes that would break against our scales! I mean the main reason it's a bad idea to ride a dragon is because its easy to fall and scales can be sharp if you sit on them long enough. A saddle fixes that!"

That was,,, actually a pretty good idea. Ropes were to likely to break when rubbing against dragon scales, but if it was a whole mess of leather and cloth... That just might work!

"Nice, you do have a brain that works." Blake half complemented half insulted her. Yang grumbled at the insult for a second but took it with grace, while Blake turned and faced them to rejoin the group. "It might be better to just make one. Maybe for Yang. She's bigger, so if we go on her we could fit three people." After Blake finished, Yang took a seat on the log beside her, having quelled the faunus anger.

"And if anyone fell, Ruby could use her speed boost to catch them." Weiss continued. Huh. Why hadn't they thought of this before? Just make a saddle! Of course, they'd need to drag a suspiciously large amount of leather into the forest to do so, but, still! This was a grand idea!

...why was their first idea to literally just have everyone be carried in blanket sacks? Shouldn't the idea of animal travel naturally bring you to 'saddle'? Weiss looked at her group. 2 dragons, with less then four years of human life experience combined. A bounty hunter that would most likely just hide on merchant carts and travel on foot to avoid detection. And Weiss herself, a sheltered princess who had only been outside the castle when she'd managed to sneak out once in a blue moon.

Oh god, none of us have any common sense... Weiss thought to herself woefully. Uhg. No matter! They had a good plan now, and would stick to it. Stealing was wrong, but... Maybe Weiss would turn a blind eye just for a little and let Yang and Blake figure out how to acquire large amounts of leather quickly... Yeah. That's fine.

Hm. Maybe while Yang and Blake used suspicious methods to gather leather, Weiss could get Ruby something more proper to wear. Would Ruby be alright staying at the inn alone? Maybe if Weiss just traded cloaks with her..

"Ruby, switch cloaks." Weiss said as she stood up, taking hers off.

"Ehh? But I like red..!" Ruby pouted, hugging the fabric of her cloak close.

"The wanted poster shows you in a red cloak. If you wear a white one for a while, we might be able to avoid detection until we leave." Weiss held out her white cloak to Ruby.

Ruby grumbled a bit but followed Weiss's instruction. Yang glanced over as Ruby switched cloaks, and quickly turned her head away to try and hold back a laugh. "How, how the hell did you manage THAT?" She said through snickers.

Weiss didn't even want to look at how much more destroyed Ruby's temporary dress had gotten. Yangs commentary was enough to realize how dire the situation was.

"So while me and Yang are stea– ...collecting leather, you'll take Ruby clothes shopping?" Blake said.

Weiss pretended she hadn't heard that first thing Blake had almost said. "Yes. And maybe we should head back now, so we don't have to make a mad dash like last time."

Yang jumped to her feet. "Oh crap yeah! ...lets get on that!"

"For the last time, NO." Weiss told a saddened Ruby. Having made it back to the city with time to spare, and cloaks traded, Weiss had taken Ruby to a clothes store. Just a little place where they could buy better dress for Ruby. And no matter how much Ruby asked, Weiss was NOT going to buy the stuffed albino squirrel figure! It seemed the place they were in doubled in taxidermy.

"But it looks so much like youuu!" Ruby whined.

"Thats exactly why no! You'll end up killing Yang with a laughing fit if she sees you holding that thing!"

"Heh, she would, wouldn't she?" Ruby snickered.

In Weiss's head, she had a motif, a style, that was given to herself. Whites, pastel colors, and royal blues. Those were what was acceptable in the palace, and old habits die hard. She snuck in red wherever she could, but still. If she had to devise something like that for Ruby to help pick her out a proper outfit... Darker colors, blacks and reds, maroon maybe? Something like that. She paced around the store, dragging Ruby along.

As she moved, something caught her eye. The most adorable little black and red styled dress, in what looked to be just Ruby's size. She brought it to the counter immediately.

The shopkeeper took her money and gave her the dress, but as he did he struck up some light conversation. "So, your names Weiss huh?" Weiss nearly froze at those words. "Like the princess of atlas." HHHHHHHHHH "Heard that white hooded lass calin' your name about various taxidermy animals every five seconds for the past half hour."

"...Yes. Named, after her. The princess." Weiss almost held her breath.

The man shook his head. "Seems the princess ain't doin so well."

"Oh?" This caught Weiss's interest. Wasn't doing so well? Had no one realized she was gone?

"You didn't hear it from me, but.. Apparently she's deathly ill. Can't even leave her room, the poor thing." He sighed. "Royalty are all smucks, but at least let a lass have husband before she dies. So young to leave the world alone."

Weiss thanked him, and pulled Ruby away from the various life-like stuffed animals she was eyeing hungrily. The shopkeeper waved goodbye, but his wave stopped when Ruby waved back. His eyes squinted for a moment, but Ruby and Weiss left.

Weiss was overwhelmed. No one knew she was gone? Weiss had asked Klein to tell the castle staff that she'd gotten sick, but, she'd only expected that to last for a few days before they found out the truth... Had no one really gone and checked? ...not even Winter? Weiss would have expected such negligence from her father, but, surely Winter would have gone to check on her? And her brother Whitly would have gone up to make fun of her because she couldn't leave her room?

But no one had. No one knew she was gone.

Maybe, Klein was just being a really good actor. Told them that she had some super contagious sickness. Yeah. That must have been it. It had to be. Weiss didn't matter so little that her disappearance from the castle had no affect at all, right?

"Where are we going?" Rubys voice brought Weiss back to reality.

"Huh?" Weiss blinked.

"We're passing the inn now. Are we not going inside?" Ruby tilted her head.

"Uh. Yeah. Yeah sorry. got distracted." Weiss waved a hand dismissively, and turned to walk back towards the inn they'd almost passed.

Yang and Blake still seemed to be out, so Ruby and Weiss just returned to their room. Ruby tried on her new dress. "I like it! Its flowey! And a little shorter then the other one, now it won't get tangled on my legs!" Ruby beamed.

Ahh, just looking at Ruby's smiling face could melt all Weiss's troubles away. Well, not permanently, but for a good hour or so at least. Ruby was about to join Weiss in the bed, when their room door burst open. "HOUSEKEEPING!" An Exited Nora screamed. "Oh good! You're here!"

Ruby dove under the bed at the doors opening, and Weiss's heart nearly stopped. "...don't, DO that!" Weiss managed to choke out, clutching her chest to catch her breath. Ruby's silver eyes peeked out from under the bed.

"Sorry sorry! I didn't think you'd be here! I mean, you weren't yesterday, I had to find you in the forest then! Oh! About that!" Nora's smile faltered. "You're leaving soon?"

Weiss averted her eyes. "Yeah.. We have to, it wasn't just Ren following me–"

"Once again I apologize at that failed attempt of first contact." Nora butted in.

"Its fine. But like I said, there are... 2 more people kind of following me. Well, 3, but that one's harmless." Weiss pushed any thoughts of Henry out of her mind.

Nora cocked her head. "Really? That would explain the huge footprints I keep seeing around. No one that works here has such big feet."

"I saw those too!" Weiss rubbed her head in frustration at the resurfacing memory. "Uhg, at the castle they always told me to buzz off and leave any problems to the guards, so I still have a habit of subconsciously ignoring clear signs of danger! How am I even supposed to stop doing that? It was drilled into my head for years!"

Nora blinked. "Castle?" Ah– Weiss shouldn't have said that. "You rich or something? But left home unannounced?" Weiss pursed her lips and looked away. Silence hung over the room before Nora piped up again. "Hey its alright! You're a great person, despite being formerly rich!" Weiss still didn't speak. "Ah, different topic. So. Uh remember how we kind of wanted to use you as bait..? To catch a dragon trapper..? Can we do that now? Like, right now? Are you busy? Since you're leaving and all. Also, if you have time tomorrow do you want to hang out again? Depending on which way you go we might not see you again for a while."

Uh.. "I'm, not busy at the moment.." Weiss finally spoke.

Nora smiled. "Great! Take my hand!" Nora took Weiss's hand in hers and strode off, pulling her along.

Weiss looked back at the room, and saw the pair of silver eyes silently watching her leave. Weiss tried to make a one handed motion for Ruby to 'stay put' but she wasn't sure if she got the message clearly. And so Nora pulled Weiss out into the sunset, to do god knows what to attract some dragon hunting serial killer. Greeeaaaaate...


	30. Am I useless or competent?

30/"Thank you again. This is really helping us out." Nora said sweetly. She held Weiss's hand as she led her through a mess of back alleys and secret passages, quite similar to the time she had brought Weiss to meet Ren. Weiss recalled Blake and Yang's warning about not going off with strangers into dark alleys but... Nora wasn't a stranger anymore, sooooo this was fine.

Nora led Weiss to a room. Weiss had almost no idea how she'd ended up there. "Ok!" Nora said. "Now we wait for Ren." Ren stepped out of the shadows to be by Nora's side nearly a second later. "Oh good you're here!" Ren nodded.

His expression hardened. "Someone's coming." He whispered. He put his hands on Weiss and Nora's shoulders, and the color drained from their vision. Someone was indeed coming. They were trying to be silent, but Weiss could hear footsteps. Footsteps from above? She looked up, and saw slight light creeping in through the floorboards that made up the ceiling. Were they in a basement?

Nora raised a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Her peppy demeanor had vanished, and the iris's of her eyes seemed to glow with small crackles of lightning flashing across them. Weiss was mesmerized by Nora's eyes. The want to gaze into Ruby's shining silver eyes gripped her heart.

The footsteps above stopped. There was a slight creak, and–

CRASHH

The ceiling gave out just above Weiss, but she dove away in time to escape the cascade of dust and debris that waterfalled down from the broken wood. Weiss coughed, and through the dust could see Ren and Nora using weapons across the room fighting someone.

"WATCH OUT FOR HIS TAIL!" Ren yelled, and Nora narrowly dodged what must have been said tail. It was to dusty to see clearly from where Weiss was.

"Scatter Weiss! We'll handle him! This Isn't our first meeting!" Nora called out to Weiss.

Weiss obeyed. She thought about staying to help for a moment, but she didn't have her sword. And even if she did, Weiss wasn't confident in her human to human battle strategies. She still needed some lessons from Blake. She would definitely have been more of a hindrance then a helper in this particular battle.

She left through the door Nora had taken her in from, but didn't get more then five feet before she bumped into a large figure blocking her path. Before she could even think, huge hands clasped around her head and slammed her into the wall. Everything went black.

Weiss awoke with a searing headache. Where was she? Wait... Had she, really gotten captured? What? Was she THAT helpless?! Weiss still couldn't see. After swiveling her head a little, she realized she was blindfolded and tied to a chair. Fantastic. Somehow it wasn't as scary as she thought it'd be. Her chest felt warm inside. A calming warmth. She needed to be calm. Yeah. If she was smart, she could escape, slip past her captors quietly. But first she needed to see. Weiss fidgeted around a bit, and discovered the blindfold was loose. She shook her head despite the pain, and managed to make it slide down to around her neck.

Weiss blinked. She was in a dimly lit room, much dirtier then the one Nora had taken her too. It was a different place. Where it was or how far from Nora it was, Weiss wasn't sure. Something besides her was in the room as well. Someone. A tall dark man with piercing eyes that stared into her soul. They stared at each other, silently.

Weiss noticed something else she hadn't before about the room, a moment later, there was a third person in it. In the corner if the room, hiding in the shadows, was a scraggly old man with an eye patch. Weiss recognized him... He'd been watching her creepily when she and Ruby had first seen Henry boasting about having a dragon scale. That old man had stuck out to her for some reason, but Weiss had pushed the thought deep down into her subconscious till just now. Just like the footprints... Dangit.. She looked at the old man, then turned her gaze back to the one in front of her.

When blindfolded, Weiss hadn't been able to see her foes. That had made her slightly confident that she could get out if she was smart enough. But this guy, this Tall guy, he was built like a bear. He could probably snap her arm in half with one hand. It should be illegal to look that threatening without even trying...

Weiss was at a loss for words as she looked up at him. She slowly averted her gaze to her lap, nervously avoiding his intense stare. Even if she could get out of the chair, there was no way she was getting past his hawk like vision. Drat.

"You finally ran outta luck." The man said. "Never underestimate what people will do for money." He tossed a bag to the old man with the eye patch behind him, and the old man scuttled out of the room. Did he.. Did he wait to pay the old man for spying or whatever until Weiss had awoken, just to prove a point? What point even was it?

"I..." Weiss still Didn't know what to say.

"You're lucky it was me who grabbed you and not HIM." He spoke with distaste, mentioning someone who Weiss assumed was his partner. The one Nora and Ren were fighting perhaps? "I'll give you an option. Take this and it will knock you out, then he can't torture you. Or you could suffer through it. Your choice." The man held a scary looking vial of purple liquid. Uh. ...No way in hell was Weiss drinking that. The man could sense Weiss's response from the look in her eyes. "Suit yourself." He pocketed the vial.

"Can you.. Untie me? I don't think I could escape anyways, it'd just be more comfortable." Weiss said slowly. She waited for his reaction. He shook his head, and that was it. Weiss was assuming she was here because he wanted to catch a dragon.. It was a dragon tracker Ren and Nora were after, maybe she should confirm that? "Why am I here?" She asked.

He gave her a dark look. "Dragons don't deserve to live."

Ah. "Well, about that. I'm not a dragon." Weiss stated calmly. "Don't you have a way to test it? Whether or not someone is a dragon? Because I'll surly pass it and be proven human, then I can just,,, leave,,, and we'll never speak of this again." Ok this was WEIRD. Why was she so calm? Weiss should have been on the edge of a nervous breakdown by now! Did Ren's semblance have after affects? No, that couldn't be it, he could only affect people by touching them.. Weiss would have noticed any after effects the first time it had happened.

"The only test is to see if they live through poisoning." The man muttered. "Its excessive and unnecessary, letting so many people die. But its the only way that works." He looked at Weiss. Slight remorse hidden behind the hard front in his eyes. "If you're human, tonight you'll die. And if you're dragon, I'll see to it myself that you never wake up again." He looked into his lap and closed his eyes.

This, has turned into a difficult situation, Weiss thought. Weiss was still calm as hell, unsure as to why. She felt a warm spot on her chest. Just like earlier, it spread throughout her. What? The warmth calmed her, made her feel safe. Her necklace. She remembered it feeling hot when she first noticed Ruby had gotten sick and turned part dragon for a while.. Did the scale warm up when Ruby was overexerting herself, maybe? What could she be doing? Perhaps she was searching for Weiss. Weiss had told her to come looking if she was gone for a long time without telling anyone where she was. But she couldn't have been gone for more then a few extra hours, right? It was dark outside.

Still, the warmth of the scale kept her sane. Maybe it had magical properties. Oh, well, of course it was filled to the brim with magic. But like maybe it also had some sort of link to Ruby, and Ruby's want to find Weiss made Weiss feel such calm.

Because Weiss was still so weirdly calm, she felt like making conversation with her captor. "Whats your name?" She asked.

The man looked her over, trying to see if she had some hidden motive for asking. "Hazel." He said. Weiss nodded. "And you?" he asked, staring at her with such an odd expression. Interest? Disgust? Curiosity? The way you might look at a very ugly dog holding a cute baby on its back.

"Weiss Sch–" Cover name idiot, you're still on the run, even if no one knows you're gone. "–kssnneeze. Sneeze. Weiss Sneeze." Wait. Could telling him her true identity get her out of this? He'd have to know the Schnee family weren't dragons right? Or maybe her telling him would make him think ALL the Schnee family were dragons... Heh. That'd make trouble for her father.

"Sneeze?" Hazel said, raising an eyebrow. Weiss felt her cheeks redden a little.

"Ok yeah it's not the best cover name but I already made the ID so–" Weiss forgot she was talking to her captor, Hazel, for a moment and responded like she was talking to Yang or Blake. "Uh. Ah.." Well, she had just wanted to tell him about her true identity. That slip up might have made things easier. "Do you know the name of Atlas's second princess?"Weiss asked.

"Everyone does. Weiss Schne–" His eyes widened as he looked at her. Hah, did he realize. Hazel quickly pulled out a compass similar to Noras, and checked it, making sure it pointed at Weiss.

"Ah! That! It doesn't point at me! It points at my necklace!" Weiss barked at him. He startled at her sudden rise in volume. Hazel reached towards Weiss's neck, making her flinch. He used a finger to scoop up the string of her necklace from the side of her neck, and carefully pulled it off. "Give it back..!" Weiss whined. Without the scales calming warmth, the gravity of the situation was starting to weigh in.

There was NO WAY Weiss could beat Hazel in a one on one fight unarmed, and there was no way she was convincing him to just let her go! Even if he did, what if he kept the scale? Ruby would follow the scale and be captured!

"It seems we won't be using the poison on you tonight at least then." Hazel grumbled. His eyes bore down into Weiss. "But since you have this, someone's sure to come looking for you. And the only one who would come, would be the dragon its from. Isn't that right?" Hazel took Weiss's worried expression as a yes.

"Give it back!" Weiss repeated. Hazel examined the necklace carefully. A heart carved scale that could have easily been mistaken as a red gemstone, if he hadn't seen the compass pointing to it, tied to a thin small rope.

"Its a heart." Hazel said bluntly. He looked to Weiss softly. "They gave you their heart." He shook his head. "And they'll pay dearly for it."

Ok, ok, don't panic stay calm. AND HOW DO I DO THAT no no just, deep breath.. One... Two... Deep breath... Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh access the situation! Yes! Hazel. Very large, and observant. Has a partner, who is fighting Ren and Nora. Was, fighting Ren and Nora? How long had Weiss been out? Doesn't matter, continue on. Scraggly old man was paid. He left. He left? Through a door. There was a door on the other side of hazel, his large form blocking it from Weiss's view! From her fidgeting before, Weiss had realized her wrists were tied, but not super tight. As if Hazel was afraid he'd break her by tying them to tight.

But none of this information mattered if she couldn't get the scale back. That was the most important thing. Weiss would be ok with breaking an arm if it meant she could get out of this with the scale. Get out.. Weiss, wanted to escape this on her own. She didn't want help. Sure she was scared before, but now she was angry, angry at herself. This was stupid! Use your brain! You claim you're bad at fighting People, but isn't that because you're either outnumbered or caught off guard? When have you ever even been in a fair fight or had an advantage against a human opponent? Didn't you discuss this already? You're on equal ground wit wise if you can get out of this rope. You don't have to fight him. Just get past him. The door is unlocked, the old man went through. You can too. Now think.

Weiss concentrated again. A way out, a way out. With the scale. "Can I please have it back..? It doesn't matter where It is as long as it's in the room right?" Weiss tried to sound scared and pitiful.

It must have worked, because about a minuet later Hazel grumbled and tossed the necklace back around Weiss's neck. Weiss was giddy, but hid her emotions. This was good! Now she just had to dash around him to the door! She'd struggled and managed to free her hands, but kept then behind her. Weiss undid the ropes tying her to the chair as well, the knot was on the back, she held the rope in place so it still looked like she was tied.

Hazel was avoiding looking at Weiss. Weiss had been putting up her very best fake scared expression, even managing to form small tears in her eyes. Of course hazel couldn't bear to watch. And that was just what Weiss wanted. With his eyes directed elsewhere, she might have a chance.

As fast as she could, Weiss sprang up and shot past hazel. The rope didn't catch, she didn't trip on anything. But opening a door takes a few seconds, and in this few seconds Hazel got his hand on her shoulder again. Weiss knew what would happen, she braced herself and avoided being knocked out by him slamming her into the ground. But his hand was still on her. She was so close, so close! He'd surly tie the ropes even tighter next time! Just a little more! A little mor–

A blinding white light flashed behind Weiss. Ruby? She turned her head back. No, that wasn't Ruby. It was a shadow wolf! A white shadow wolf? White... Oh! Oh oh oh! Weiss had summoned something! She'd summoned a shadow wolf! At the time she most needed it! The flash distracted Hazel, and the impact of the white shadow wolf managed to knock him off her. Weiss got to her feet and ran, a wide smile on her face.

Escape success! She did it! By herself! The shadow wolf was an extension of her own power, so this was totally by herself! But that wasn't the end of it. Weiss was running through dark corridors blindly, with Hazel surly following. She had the scale. That meant he could track her.

Weiss smelled something sweet. Pastry's? She saw a tiny speck of light, and rammed into it by accident. She burst out of a wall of a bakery, scaring is inhabitant's. She kept running, hoping that since she had her hood up no one would recognize her. Her hood... She was, still wearing Ruby's read cloak.. hm. The bakery people would have seen a girl in a red hood covering her face break out of a wall and dash out of the store. This probably wasn't helping Ruby with her whole 'wanted poster' thing..

Weiss was outside! And it was daylight? She'd been gone the whole night? But wasn't the window she'd seen in the room back there dark? Weiss spotted Blake in the market and jumped on her.

Blake made a catlike screech and toppled over. Weiss chirped at her excitedly. "Hey! Hi! Uh! I'm alive!"

"Get off! What was that for?! Also, where the hell were you!? What happened to no wandering off with strangers?" Blake wriggled out of Weiss's grasp and stood up.

Weiss stood too. "Well, you see, it wasn't a stranger...? I know Nora. We've hung out."

"Uh-huh. And what did she ask you to do?" Blake gave a stern look.

"...be bait for a serial killer?"

"SHE MADE YO–" Blake stopped herself from raising her voice to much and took a deep breath. "God. I should have guessed. All three of you are so,,,, UHG." Blake stretched her arms and Weiss her her back crack a little. "Ow. Sorry. I'm on edge, what with you having been suddenly gone again, and the fact that my back is KILLING me. You never realize how heavy leather is until you spend all night carrying it around." Blake scoffed.

"She didn't make me, I agreed to it willingly." Weiss half pouted.

"Of course you did. I swear you always do the opposite of what we tell you, you defiant little–" Blake covered her face with her hands and groaned. "Don't talk to me right now my entire being is sore and I'll say something I'll regret later."

"I also might be being chased by a friend of the serial killer who's life mission is to wipe dragons out of existence. Currently. As in i just lost them in the chase." Weiss looked away as she spoke.

Blake looked about ready to cry from frustration.


	31. Glass

"–and that's what happened." Weiss finished speaking. Her and Blake had met up with Yang, who was frantically searching for something. Weiss explained what had happened to her, the whole traveling with Nora and being nabbed by hazel, but Yang was only half listening.

"I'm an idiot I'm an IDIOT!" Yang cursed herself. "I've been scanning crowds for that stupid red hood! But you have it! I should have been looking for white!" Yang banged her head against the wall just nearby.

"Ah, yes, we switched last night." Weiss held out her arm a bit to properly look at the cloak she was wearing. The red cloak. Ruby's red cloak. Weiss's cloak wasn't to dirty when she switched it, right..? It didn't smell weird or anything? Though, maybe since Ruby was a dragon she'd be able to smell Weiss's essence on the cloak regardless? Essence? What does that even mean? Whatever.

It had been about a half an hour, and Hazel was nowhere to be seen. That was good. It meant he wouldn't blindly chase after Weiss through a crowded market in broad daylight. Honestly, that kind of courtesy was SO nice in an enemy!

"How long has Ruby been gone? Last I saw her she was under the bed back at the inn.." Weiss wondered out loud, her concern growing.

Yang froze. "Wait. Under the bed?"

Weiss turned towards her and tilted her head with a look of disbelief. "Did you not CHECK there?"

Yang stayed silent, but started speed walking to the street the inn was on. Weiss followed.

"Don't mind me, not like I'm shopping for supplies or anything! I'll meet you back at the inn later!" Blake huffed after Weiss and Yang.

Weiss stopped, and looked back to shout "Was that, sarcastic? Do you need help?"

Blake waved a hand and shook her head, giving a tired half smile, and shouted back. "Go find your girlfriend dummy! And keep an eye on mine too!"

Weiss waved as well, and trotted off after Yang again. They reached the inn in a matter of minuets, but someone was waiting at the door to Weiss's room, and it wasn't Ruby.

Weiss couldn't hide the surprise in her voice. "Henry?" ...how did he know what room she was staying in? Weiss had made sure to keep that information secret from him!

He saw her approaching, and smiled. "Oh hey Weiss! What a coincidence!" He leaned against the wall and stretched, as if to show he'd been waiting a while.

"...hello. Why are you, here?" Weiss asked cautiously.

Yang looked back and forth between the two, her brows furrowing. "Oh!" She chirped as she made a fist and slapped it against her palm. "Number 4!"

Weiss ignored Yang and waited for Henrys response. "I was just in the neighborhood. Thought I'd, stop by and see if you were busy~" he was trying to sound flirty, but it just made Weiss want to gag. She held it in.

"I'm in the middle of something right now, I need to get past–" Weiss tried to say, but was cut off.

Henry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Come on, humor me will ya? Just give me a chance, I know you're no dating anyone. I'll make it worth your while!" he said, still blocking the door to Weiss's room.

Yang's arm twitched, and Weiss moved her hand behind her to pinch her before she could throw a punch. Yang seemed unfazed by it. She looked over at Weiss, her eyes clearly asking 'can i kill him now?' Weiss replied back with a look that said 'I'll tell Blake on you'. That made Yang grumble an look away.

"I really don't have the time at the moment, now if you'll please move..." Weiss asked gently.

Henry scoffed. "Fine. I'll come by some other time. Don't think you can run, I know where you live!" He joked with a wink, walking past them and down the stairs.

When they were sure he was gone, Yang whirled around and stared Weiss in the eyes. "WHY didn't you let me hit him?"

"We've got enough on our plates with Ruby's wanted poster! We don't need one for you too!" Weiss huffed.

"But that was for murder! I'd just rough him up a little! He needs it, the stupid prick." Yang punched the palm of her hand. She then tilted her head in thought, and asked Weiss a question. "Why didn't you say no?"

"What?"

"No. Why didn't you say it? You said, 'not right now' or 'later' but not no. Don't you want him gone?"

"I..." Yang was right. Weiss hadn't said no. Why hadn't she? Thinking back, Had she ever told Henry no? All her responses had been like Yang said, 'not now's or 'another time'. Did Weiss secretly want to meet up with him? No, certainly not, just being around him put her on edge and made uncomfortable. Like so many of the parties she'd had to attend back at the castle, her fathers cold stare making sure she didn't put a foot our of line, or insult the guests in any way. How could she tell someone no under that pressure? But... That pressure should have been gone now. She didn't have to feel like she was constantly being watched anymore. So why was it so hard to break out of that mentality? Why did it feel like she was more trapped then ever when in a situation like that with Henry? I don't understand..

Yang hugged Weiss from behind. Weiss flinched at the sudden gesture, but didn't try to get away. "Sorry. You've still got stuff to work through huh? Guess I can't relate, seeing as how I can just punch the living daylights out of anyone I want to get away from. Not to say you're weak, but I'm just,,, overqualified." Yang rubbed the back of her head with an awkward smile.

Weiss nodded, words not coming out. Yang let her go and opened the door to Weiss's room. Ruby was perched on the bed, acting as if she'd been there the whole time. Yang let out a breath of relief. "You WERE under the bed, weren't you?!" She growled.

Ruby nodded eagerly, smiling brightly. Yang sighed, and scratched her head. "I feel dumb. I think, I'll go help Blake out. With gathering rope and stuff. Saddles almost done. Yeah.. That." Weiss could tell Yang wanted to pounce on her sister and check her over to make sure she was ok. But even Yang had enough sense to know that it would be kind to leave Weiss and Ruby alone for a little while. She pushed Weiss inside, and gently shut the door.

Two things immediately stuck out to Weiss when she entered the room. One, how drafty it was. The window was shut, wasn't It..? And two, how Ruby was holding her hands behind her back still. No wait, make that three things, the makeshift shoes Ruby had been wearing were covered in mud, and they were NOT like that yesterday.

"So..." Weiss said, moving forwards and sitting on the bed. Ruby backed up to the window, as if trying to hide somthing, still smiling. "Where've you been?"

"Uh... Well, you see..?" Ruby avoided eye contact. Weiss saw a flash of red when Ruby fidgeted in place. Red? She was wearing Weiss's white cloak, why would there be– ! Weiss lunged forward and grabbed Rubys arm, pulling it around front. Shards of glass poked out of multiple deep cuts and scratches. "H– wh–?" Weiss stuttered. "Ruby?!" She yelled. Ruby closed her eyes and tried to take her arm back, whimpering a little. Only then did Weiss see the broken window behind her. Weiss took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm. Sorry for yelling. Lets get this out of you." She spoke softly through gritted teeth to calm Ruby down. Ruby nodded.

"I tried to follow you but I didn't want to let you know so I tried to go out the window, It only broke a little! But then I, um.. I thought I sensed another dragon? But he looked like menry? Hahaha, So I got confused. And followed him but then I got lost and when I kept having this bad feeling and trying to find you but I couldn't and and when I got back the doors heheheh the doors were locked so I climed in the window but I slipped and my arms got glass in em and–"

"Shhhhh." Weiss shushed her, trying to cool her head. "Its alright. I'll try not to leave like that again." Plink, plink, plink. The sound of shards of glass falling to the floor as Weiss plucked them out filled the silence of the room. Uhg. Weiss had offered to help immediately upon seein Ruby hurt, but, this was disgusting. So much blood. Why was there so much blood? This was going to be hell to get out while washing. Its a good thing ruby had seemed to have rolled up her sleeves before climbing through the broken window. What would happen if Weiss didn't help? Would Ruby Just have to live with glass in her arm forever? Or would they disappear next time she went dragon? Either way, they were causing Ruby pain right now, so Weiss wanted them gone. "Have you gotten glass stuck in your arms like this before?" Weiss asked, to particularly distract herself from the goreish scene before her.

"No, never! First time! PFTTT." Ruby snorted a laugh when weiss wedged out a particularly deep shard. "Owwwwww." She whined.

"Promise me you won't climb through broken windows like that anymore, alright?" Weiss sighed. She was beginning to feel dizzy from the sight of this.

Ruby pouted and nodded. "I only did it because I didn't want to worry you guys when you came back."

Weiss gave her a dull look. "Uh-huh. And how did that work out for you?"

"...badly." Ruby said, looking away. Weiss got back to focusing on pullin out glass. "Hey, menry was juat here, right?" Ruby asked.

Weiss froze. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I felt like he was a dragon before.. But, just now he wasn't? I wonder if, my senses are broken..."

"Didn't Yang say normally you can't tell if someone's a dragon when they're in human form?"

"Yeah NORMALLY, but maybe, he, wanted me to know..?"

"But if he was one, wouldn't he have turned into a dragon back when we stole the scale from him?" Weiss wondered out loud.

"I'm, not sure?" Ruby tilted her head. "Well, probably. Because he would have known about the whole 'dragons can turn into people whenever they want' thing. I'm not sure how to do it yet, but if a dragon wants to they can, turn off their magical shield barrier.. The thing that keeps magical signature trackers from finding us. Well, unless the tracker has a literal dragon scale in it, but its pretty rare for those to fall into human hands."

Weiss glanced awkwardly away, remembering how reckless Ren and Nora were with their dragon tracking compass. If it really were that rare, they wouldn't have been waving it around like that.. Ruby didn't notice Weiss's change quick change of expression.

A bit longer passed. "There." Weiss let out the breath she'd been holding in. Ruby's arms looked,,, well, they didn't look much better, but at least there wasn't glass sticking out of them anymore. Weiss used one of the pillowcases from the bed on one of Ruby's arms, and a blanket scrap (leftover from when they had to ration blankets from Ruby's dragon sneezing) on the other. Weiss wasn't sure how long it would take Ruby to heal. When she'd held that spiked ball in the weapons shop before, it hadn't taken more then an hour. But how long had it been already? Half an hour of silently plucking glass from her arm? Weiss hadn't seen any sign of it healing yet. She hoped it would.

BASH

The door burst open. Yang was there, and looked ready to pounce on Ruby and strangle her. "You dirty sneak!"

"Huh?" Weiss couldn't help but say.

Yang pointed at Ruby "She's bleeding!"

"...yes. I'm aware." Weiss said slowly.

"No, no she tricked me! She put a little blood in her nose! So when I saw her earlier I didn't freak out because I just thought she had a nose bleed!" Yang stomped angrily.

Ruby looked away, pretending Yang wasn't in the room.

"I think she's fine now, so yo–" Weiss was almost immediately cut off.

"I worry about you! You're, you're, you're like me! But worse!" Yang took a deep breath. "Uhg. I KNEW it was to strong a smell to just be from the nose. I'm an idiot." She wandered over to the bed and sat on it. "I gave you two a half hour alone, now it's my turn to coddle my little sis." Yang reached a hand out and rubbed Ruby's head. Ruby smiled and leaned into the hand. That same hand honked her on the head a second later. Ruby stuck out her tongue at Yang and the two playfully bickered.

Weiss remembered a question she'd had earlier "Oh Yang, I wanted to ask you, how long does healing usually take?"

Yang subsided from playfully tormenting Ruby a moment. "Huh? Healing?" She tilted her head and looked up in thought. "Ohhhh oh yeah! Healing! Uh, hm... Well it depends? On the wound? And on how much magic We've got stored up? Ruby should be fine by now if it was scratches." Yang glanced next to Weiss. "Buuuut judging by that bloody pile of glass there, I'm guessing another hour at least for it to be fully gone."

Weiss nodded. That... Well that didn't exactly make sense, but, she trusted Yang enough to take her word for it.

W– Hm? Trust? Weiss's brain yelled at her. Oh god. They were people Weiss trusted. People she'd spent time with, and wanted to be around. If Weiss found herself back in her fathers clutches, she would actively try to break out of his grasp to go back to said people instead of obeying him meekly like she did before. That thought warmed her to the core.

The door to the inn room bust open again. Blake. Seriously, did those two even know how to knock? "We ride at dawn!" Blake triumphantly called out, the bags under her eyes screaming for sleep. Weiss held in a laugh at her scragged appearance. She hadn't looked to closely at Blake earlier when she'd escaped Hazel. Ah. Hazle. That had happened hadn't it? It felt like days ago, but that was just a few hours ago wasn't it?

"Wrong!" Yang yelled to match Blake's enthusiasm. "We leave at like,,, 5 AM! Sneak attacks work better in the morning!"

"That IS dawn you moron." Blake glared. "I'm going to sleep right this second, I don't have your crazy stamina." She flopped onto Ruby and Weiss's and bed.

Ruby and Weiss looked to Yang for an explanation. "I guess she finished sewing and tying leather enough to make a saddle. She was up all night, poor thing. I was to! ...Mostly. We were shopping earlier when you came about Weiss because we just needed a tiiiiiiny bit more thread." Yang strode over to the bed and rubbed the now snoring Blake's head. "Wanna sleep in a safety pile on the same bed again? She's probably gonna be out till tomorrow, but I don't want to move her just in case."

"I like the sleep pile. It reminds me of sleeping on you in dragon form." Ruby smiled as she spoke to Yang.

"I mat not against it either..." Weiss said, letting out her inner tsundere.

Yang nodded. "Sweet. You two can go to our room for a bit so you can talk without worrying you'll wake her, I'll stay here. Remember, like Blake said. We ride at dawn~" She smiled mischievously.


End file.
